


Fire Emblem Fates, a Time Traveling Comedy: Birthright Edition

by WhiteDraga



Series: Time Traveling Comedies [1]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Bond Units can talk, Bond Units have feelings too, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Camilla still loves Corrin awww, Corrin is a badass, Corrin swears but no one understands his modern swears, Corrin visits Kamui's My Castle in Conquest, Dimension Travel, ENJOY! :), Elise is the only one fine with all this, Everyone Is Alive, Everyone Is More Or Less Confused, Everyone May or May Not be Gay, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff between Everyone, He is laid back and more experienced, He knows things he shouldn't know, Hinoka is that big sister who supports you no matter what, I Tried, I literally spent an hour tagging, I made them all Fan-made Supports, If you've actually read all of these tags then wow kudos to you, Leo needs an aspirin for his Corrin-induced migraines, M/M, Major Spoilers, Mikoto is alive, Multi, Robin and Ike finds themselves in another crazy adventure, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Friendship, Ryoma wonders why his life has gotten so much more difficult, Sakura is enjoying their family bonding time as they invade Nohr, Sort of? - Freeform, Takumi is less of a moody brat after meeting Corrin, There is Support for everybody I'm not joking, Time Travel Fix-It, Watch out Anankos we're coming for you, We live in a small world and an even smaller dimension, Xander is defeated by a loaf of bread, and she is owning life like no tomorrow, and vice versa, even though by now it's an unhealthy addiction, prepare for chaos, prepare to laugh, references to other fandoms - Freeform, she is having so much fun, too many damn tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-01 09:52:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 43,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13292346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteDraga/pseuds/WhiteDraga
Summary: Time Travel Fix-It! with a twistIt's been 20 years since the end of the Hoshido-Nohr war.But one day, 41-year-old Corrin wakes up back in time at the Northern Fortress before the war and his journey began. Stuck in the past with a chance to redo everything, he's decided to screw the plot and take the world by storm. And maybe along the way find the right moment to confess to a certain Songstress.One thing for certain is that this is gonna be fun.Rated T for Corrin's use of curse words, OoC-ness, use of modern-ish language, and badass attitude. Corrin is less naïve, more sardonic, laid-back and experienced(probably because he is a 41-year-old with too much time on his hands since the war ended), and he just knows about certain "stuff" beyond the fourth wall(such as modern swears, other fandom references, etc.). (it will make sense when you read the prologue)Major BIRTHRIGHT/REVELATIONS SPOILERS and slight CONQUEST SPOILERS!





	1. Ties That Blind

**Author's Note:**

> This story is also posted on FanFiction.net.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corrin, a level 80-something, gets K.O.-ed by a bubble. 
> 
> He then discovers the existence of a fourth wall, the ability to cuss, flip a birdie, some major truths about the universe(whether he's aware of it or not), and most importantly: that his life is a video game.
> 
> He then flips the readers and Naga off, and wakes up.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

_Emphasis_

LOUD NOISES

'Quoting'

* * *

**Prologue**

**Ties That Blind**

* * *

...

Bubbles were literally the first thing he saw. Flowy, wobbly, annoying bubbles rushing to stab and pop in his eyes—gak! Damn that hurts!

Corrin rubbed his injured eyes, swatting the rest of the bubbles near him away like a pissed off cat. He smirked in a savage way as he witnessed their helpless, popping demise.

"Now that's done with, where the heck am I?"

He glanced around. It seemed that he was on the bottom of a lake. Oh isn't that swell. Corrin figured that since he's not drowning, he must be dreaming.

Then, a giant, rainbow colored, mother-of-all bubbles aggressively smashed into his face, and boy did it sting like a big-assed bee.

...what? Were you expecting me to use the term 'bitch' instead of 'bee'? Bitches can't sting. Bitches can only...well, _bitch_.

"Gah! FUCK! Why the damn hell can a bubble do so much damage to my face!?" He rubbed his eyes again, and cursed. "Well isn't this fucking great?! I can't see shit! Can't believe a stupid bubble made me blind!" He stumbled back, tripped on some nonexistent pond rock, and fell on his ass so hard Corrin felt it all the way to his balls. Ouch.

Corrin, the-41-year old hero of the great Hoshidan-Nohrian war, had been brought down to his knees—well, more like his ass—by a fragile bubble. It was so ridiculously embarrassing that Corrin feared Ryoma might disown him once he caught word of his shameful defeat.

Corrin paused in his vengeful muttering. He suddenly snapped his head up, face slack with shock despite his eyes being clenched tightly together. Wait...what did he just say? 'Fuck'? 'Shit'? What did those words even mean, and why does he suddenly know what they mean—what? Wait, what?! This was so weird…

Corrin rubbed his head, confused, but just then an adrenaline-like rush entered and left him all within seconds. Violent shivers ran up his spine like angry, writhing eels as random information flooded his brain with so many foreign terms and facts than he'd lost count and thus didn't bother to remember it all. However, one single fact that had him trembling in fury stuck out clearly in his mind like a spotlight.

"MY LIFE IS A FUCKING VIDEO GAME!?"

He couldn't believe it. He just _could not believe it_. The inner turmoil; the guilt; the suffering he's been put through; the lonely nights staying up and reminiscing about the past; the happy times that he and his Hoshidan family had on particularly festive nights; the tears; the pain; the wounds; the slightly more depressed look in King Leo and Camilla's eyes everytime he goes to visit Nohr; the laughs; the joy; the shared warmth; the birthday songs; the food fight that followed shortly after the birthday songs—it was all some kinda game sold to a bunch of bored people with nothing else better to do?! His tragic, messed up life was literally being profited on this whole time and he had no idea? What the actual hell?! Corrin suddenly feels as cheated on as the time Anna sold him a handful of what she claimed to be 'magic beans', but were clearly normal beans harvested from the bean plants. He wasn't sure who he's more mad at: Anna for deceiving him like that, or himself for actually buying three measly little beans for 5000 gold. Screw the Nohrian legend of Jack and the Beanstalk; magic exists in many forms, but magic simply _does not_ exist within tiny beans. That Humpty Dumpty guy from Puss in Boots can come and argue with him about it all he wants, but Corrin's not going to agree unless he gets a golden egg to compensate for his lost 5000 pieces of gold.

And to add insult to his fresh injury, Corrin just now realizes that the underwater scenery around him was his customization page.

"So what if I'm not perfect?!" The crazed albino shouted loudly to no one, eyes still tightly clenched together as if he was on a toilet experiencing constipation. "How would you like it if I changed your hairstyle, your eye color, or even your _freaking gender_ without permission?! I like who I am, okay?! So BACK OFF!" He then, with such sass and attitude, flips a birdie despite not knowing what a 'birdie' was not even a minute ago.

Corrin, the dragon-shifting hero who won the war in Hoshido's favor, continued to roar out to the heavens like nobody's business in pure, unadulterated rage while still completely and utterly blind like a bat under sunlight.

"DAMN YOU, NAGA!"

Then, he woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the prologue. 
> 
> It may seem confusing, but this is essential to the rest of the story as Corrin now knows what we, the readers, know about the FE Fates universe.
> 
> Don't worry, things get way funnier in the next chapter. ;)


	2. Nohr? Nope, it's the Afterlife

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xander and Leo are in for a surprise, and everyone wonders if Corrin is mentally insane, much to the albino's chagrin.
> 
> Lilith secretly vanishes off to investigate the mysterious energy she felt in the morning, the same time as Corrin woke up. Coincidence? Heh heh heh, I don't think so.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

_Emphasis_

LOUD NOISES

'Quoting'

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**~~Nohr~~ The Afterlife**

* * *

...

Corrin woke up. His eyes snapped awake so abruptly that Felicia and Flora—who were just about to wake him—yelped and hastily stepped back in surprise.

"Ah! Lord Corrin!" Flora greeted politely with a bow and smile. "I see you've awoken without any assistance."

"Glad to see you're becoming less of a slugabed, milord!" Felicia cheered with a jolly smile.

Corrin stared at them—and Gunter, and Jakob—and openly gaped.

"Lord Corrin?" Felicia sounded out in concern. "Are you feeling alright? Why do you look like a dead fish out of water?"

Flora sharply nudged her twin. "Felicia, you're being rude." She half hissed half whispered.

"O-oh, sorry…" The pinkette looked down in shame.

"I…" Corrin croaked out weakly. He cleared his dry throat and tried again. "I'm dead? _Again_? How did I—" He paused for a moment before smacking his forehead and groaned. "I bet it's Takumi. I knew pranking him was a bad idea, but who knew his killer tendencies was still strong enough that he'd actually kill me in my sleep? Didn't Iago's spell wear off by now?" He then chuckled evilly to himself as he slowly shook his head in a fashion only befitting for a villain. "Although I've gotta say, replacing Takumi's shampoo with mud, honey, and solidified meat grease was a stroke of _genius_! It took weeks for him to even attempt running a brush through his hair." He raised a shaking fist to the air in triumphant glory. "Hah! That's for messing with me, little Brother! Next time you'll think twice before swapping my sweet and sour sauce with spicy hot sauce!" He cackled heartily to himself, completely forgotten about his now very worried retainers. He stopped when he realized something, and growled lowly. "Damn it, I forgot...I'm dead now so it doesn't matter anymore huh…ah well." He shrugged to himself. "I guess I've lived a nice fulfilling life anyway."

"Uh…" Flora, utterly astonished beyond words, spoke up hesitantly. "Milord...are you feeling alright?"

"Hm?" He looked up at her, clueless as to why she looked like she wanted to sprint away for help. "Yeah, I'm okay. What's wrong?"

"Umm," she glanced around at her fellow stewards for help, but being the only one who wasn't still standing there shocked speechless, she sighed and continued. "You are not making any sense right now, milord…"

"Oh, sorry. Yeah, we've got a lot to catch up on, huh? I'm not sure how time works here in the afterlife, but I'm about 41 right now."

Jakob and Felicia looked at each other, the same questions lingering on their shocked faces.

'The ' _afterlife_ '?! He's _41_?!' They both thought, alarmed, but not sure which they should be more alarmed about; the fact that their lord thinks he's dead, or the fact that their lord thinks he's a 41-year-old man.

"41?" Flora furrowed her brows in confusion at the complete nonsense Corrin spewed out. "But milord, you look not a day older than 20."

"Aww Flora, you don't have to flatter me like that." Corrin flashed a friendly grin as he put a hand to the back of his head bashfully. "I know I'm getting old, you don't have to butter me up."

"'Butter you up'...?" She tilted her head slightly, muddled at the unusual phrase used.

This time, Corrin finally had a look of confusion along with her, however he did not look half as confused as what Flora and everyone else were feeling. "Huh, that's strange...I don't know where that phrase came from." He scratched his chin before remembering the dream he just had.

"Oh hey, listen to this. I had the weirdest dream just now about bubbles, you see," he chuckled, shaking his head at the silly idea that he actually believed his life was a video game—I mean, c'mon, a _video game_? Seriously? How overly fictional is that? Pfttt! As if—"and when a giant bubble hit me, I suddenly had this rush of information flow into me, and the weirdest thing I got from that was the fact that my life is actually some twisted game! Hah!" He laughed loudly and wiped a tear from an eye. "Crazy, right?"

'Well _something_ is certainly crazy…' The thought went unsaid as Flora knew it'd be impolite to voice it out.

"Lord Corrin," Gunter, still in shock, managed to croak out his question. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

"I'm fine, Gunter. Thanks for asking." He smiled at the well-aged knight, happy to see his old caretaker again.

Corrin's gaze wandered around the room. 'It's really amazing how accurate the afterlife is to my old room back in the fortress.' He thought to himself before speaking up again. "So, what have I missed? What do you guys do anyway? Just stand here all day waiting for me to arrive or something?" He jokes briefly before his eyes suddenly hardens as he looks at Flora seriously. "Do we have food here? Can we still eat things? It would suck if we are to starve here for the rest of eternity."

"I, uh—I'm sure we can still eat…?" Flora replied uncertainly. Honestly, how was one supposed to even act in such a situation that their lord went insane literally overnight?

"Oh, then excellent." He nodded to himself, satisfied. He finally noticed something odd about the room he was in. Was it the familiarly _real_ Nohrian atmosphere? Nah, the sight of his old bedroom always gave him that feeling. Was it the _realistically_ soft fabric of his bed? Nah, his bed always felt like this whether in the realm of the living or dead. Was it how incredibly _alive_ he felt?

...nah.

It was probably the two extra people he hadn't expected to see here of all places.

"Felicia? Jakob?" The albino prince was disgruntled when he saw his two most loyal and faithful servants. "What are you guys doing here? How did you two of all people wind up dead?"

"Wha…?" Felicia's jaw dropped and her eyes went as wide as dinner plates. 'What does milord mean? I'm... _dead_?'

"I, um…" Jakob looked remarkably like a startled deer caught in torch light. "I, well, e-e-excuse me milord?"

"Well okay then, I guess it's fine." Corrin smiled and nodded contently. "Alright then Jakob, you are excused for ending up dead. You too Felicia. I don't mind that much since all of us can still be together, even if we're not in the realm of the living anymore."

"I…" Jakob cleared his throat nervously. "Milord, are you feeling alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine and dandy." The albino prince's smile disappeared as he gave his four retainers a questioning look. "Why do you guys keep asking me that?"

Seriously, how was one supposed to act when their young master had turned downright nutty insane?

'Oh gods help us.' The four all mentally cried out, hoping with all their might that Corrin was just playing a harmless prank on them like how he normally does every month or so...

...and hadn't actually gone bat-crap crazy.

Seriously, _how_ were they even supposed to deal with _this_?

"Hey, is Xander and Elise around? I'd like to see them. I really miss them..." Corrin got up from his bed and walked toward his 'replica' closet in 'the afterlife' to grab and strap on his ridiculously complex armor. "Are they somewhere near here, or do I have to travel to the hall back in Castle Krakenburg to meet them?"

"Lord Corrin, I implore you to stop speaking such nonsense!" Gunter finally spoke up after getting over most of his shock. "I assure you that you don't have to go to Castle Krakenburg to see them. Your siblings have come to visit you today, remember? Lord Xander is currently waiting for you on the usual roof for your training, but Lady Elise is still on her way."

"Okay okay, no need to overreact to my question Gunter…" Corrin pursed his lips and rolled his ruby eyes annoyedly. 'I haven't seen him in forever and the first thing he says to me is a scolding for asking a question. Sheesh, where had our love disappeared to?'

Corrin stopped in his tracks and thought for a moment. 'Hm, maybe the reason why Gunter is so grumpy is because he just misses me, but like usual he doesn't show it in a normal way. I guess I should return his hidden affections. I mean, it _has_ been a long time since I've seen the old knight.'

With a toothy grin, he jogged over to the elderly warrior and hugged him happily like a child hugging a giant armored teddy bear. "Oh don't be so grouchy. Of course I missed you too, Gunter! It's nice to see you again, and I promise I'll tell you all my glories throughout the war later over a cup of tea, okay?"

Corrin released the very startled and very confused Gunter, and then lightly jogged towards and out the door. He glanced back and waved a goodbye with one arm. "See you guys later!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Silence overwhelmed the bedroom as the four servants stood there wide-eyed, dumbfounded, shocked beyond words, and unsure of what just happened.

"Uhhh, I think something's wrong with Lord Corrin."

"'You think'?" Jakob huffed mockingly. "Felicia, our lord had practically announced us dead! I am quite sure something is wrong here."

Flora and Gunter continued to stand there wordlessly, the former feeling faint with an urge to lay down while the latter was still stunned by the unexpected and loving hug he received out of the blue.

…

Corrin, oblivious to the headaches he had just caused to his four retainers, emerged onto the roof. The sight of Xander warming up his sword arm by experimentally swinging a bronze sword around caused a grin to settle on Corrin's face.

"Hey big Brother!" He called out joyfully. "Haha, I see you're ever still so diligent with your training even here. I guess some things don't ever change, eh?"

Xander turned around and smiled one of his rare, small yet content smiles. "Ah Corrin! You're up earlier than I expected. Of course, I need to consistently better my swordsmanship for my kingdom, as of you as well." He tossed the albino the other bronze sword he was carrying. "Now, what say you we begin this match?"

Corrin found it odd that Xander had claimed that he was training for the sake of Nohr. It made no sense since they were dead, and dead people can't really fight for a kingdom from the living world, right? Or is there some other friggin' war going on separately in the spiritual world? No matter, Corrin was just elated to see his older brother again.

The Manakete took one look at the cheaply made practice sword and snorted. "Come now, Brother! Can't we spar with something a little more solid than this?"

Xander scrunched his eyebrows together. "Oh? What do you have in mind then?"

"I don't know, just anything but these! If our fight gets too intense, they might break!" Corrin shrugged smugly, setting aside the rusty blade defiantly.

"Well now, isn't someone quite the confident swordsman today." Xander smirked, albeit proud that his younger sibling finally had the guts to outright challenge him. "Alright then, you asked for it! Leo! Get me two iron swords!"

Corrin blinked, his smile instantly dropped from his face. 'Leo? Leo is here? He's...dead too? Who's going to rule over Nohr then? Wouldn't that mean Camilla is the only one who...oh gods, she must be so devastated and heartbroken that her only remaining sibling is gone and—'

"Catch, Corrin!"

Corrin snapped out of his train of thought just in time to snatch a flying sword out of the air before the blade could cut his cheek.

"What's wrong?" The young mage, who stood unnoticed off to the side, taunted the albino with his signature cocky smirk. "You still half-asleep, Brother? You do know that you can't beat the strongest knight of Nohr without fully awakening first, right?"

"L-Leo...why—" Before Corrin could finish, Xander came charging at him.

"Coming in!"

"Wha—?!"

Out of pure instinctual reflex did Corrin manage to successfully parry Xander's sneak attack.

"Xander! What the hell?! Don't do that! I was talking, damn it!" Corrin shouted angrily, forcibly pushing back the other's sword away with a grunt.

Xander, ignoring the infuriated prince's protests, looked visibly amazed. "Well done, little prince! I didn't expect you to block my strike so quickly! Your reflexes are developing very nicely." His smile disappeared as an air of seriousness settled in around him. "Alright, clearly the efforts that I've put into training you were not in vain. Now I want to know just how much you have taken my training to heart!" He readied his horse and trotted over to the other portion of the green, elevated roof. "Come at me once you're ready for our duel, Corrin. Don't keep me waiting!"

"Xander suddenly seems excited. You really must have impressed him." Leo noted, raising a brow at the dragon prince. "Have you been secretly training on your own again? Whatever you're doing is working well, so well that you've got Xander fired up completely."

"Leo," Corrin began, staring at him earnestly. "Why are you _here_?"

"To observe and give you tips, but overall spend time with my dear sibling?" He replied defensively, eyes narrowing. Apparently, he had taken offense to what Corrin said. "Why? Do you not want me here?"

"No, that's not what I meant." Corrin sweated as he raised his hands in a gesture of peace. "I mean, why aren't you in Nohr? Did something happen?"

The blonde mage gave him the most baffled look he could muster. "Corrin, are you feeling alright?"

Said prince sighed in irritation. He threw his arms up in defeat. "Why is everyone asking me that today?"

"Maybe because you are talking rubbish and are making absolutely no sense." Leo retorted. "Last time I checked, this spot I'm standing in right now is still in Nohr. Brother, I really recommend you get yourself fully awake first before starting your spar. You could get severely hurt with the mood you've put Xander in."

Corrin stared at Leo blankly. His brain took a long time to process what he had just said. "So...we're in Nohr." He replied listlessly.

Leo frowned, deeply concerned for his sibling's mentality. "Where else could we be? Corrin, I'll ask you again. Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah...I'm good…just fine…" The albino trailed off as his gaze went blank. "So...I'm in Nohr. The actual, legitimate Kingdom of Nohr…" His eyes shifted emotionlessly to the crowned prince waiting patiently atop his horse. "With Xander who is apparently alive…not dead...and not bloodthirsty after my head."

He sighed and cursed under his breath. "I seriously time travelled? Ah fuck, I am so screwed."

Leo narrowed his chestnut-colored eyes. "What are you muttering there? Speak up, I say!"

Corrin blinked out of his lifeless trance. He stared down Leo squarely in the eye, and much to the surprise of the Dark Knight, Leo felt like he was being stared down intently by a veteran warrior instead of his usually lovable and kind brother. "Look Leo, I'm not who you think I am."

The Norhian prince raised a brow dubiously. "Oh? Then do tell who you think you are."

"I'm—actually, better yet, I'll show you." Corrin smirked mischievously, an idea coming to mind. "I know you won't believe me if I don't show you evidence first, so you better watch me, 'cause here's my proof."

'Take this, Xander! This is payback for sneak attacking me all the dang time!' With that thought in mind, the white-haired prince sprinted towards the other side of the roof at full speed, leaping and crashing down upon a startled Paladin who totally did not register the grey blur flying at him until at the last moment.

"Ngh!" Xander grunted as he actually had to try his best to endure the sudden harsh impact. Corrin, however, didn't stop there. He followed up the attack by kicking and punching at the horse's face, which caused it to snort and stumble back in shock and fright.

Xander had to take a second to regain his control, but that second was all Corrin needed to come flying in at him again and strike. The Paladin did not have enough time to raise his sword, so he raised his arm-shield instead only to have it—and the armor and clothing underneath—forcibly torn right off and launched into the dark sky, landing somewhere on one of the Northern Fortress's brick paths below.

The crowned prince took a moment to stare wide-eyed at his now bare arm incredulously.

'Holy mother of Dusk—' He, however, did not have enough time to finish his thought because the moment he took to admire his nude arm was the biggest mistake he'd made in the entire match.

In all his relentless flying fury, Corrin slammed his foot into the side of Xander's face. Xander, with a face full of foot, came right off his horse. The completely startled prince didn't even have time to scramble up or lift his sword before the sharp end of Corrin's metal stick was pointed between his sweaty brows.

"Checkmate." The albino grinned at him in victory, panting from his recent exertion. "Well big Brother? How was that?"

Xander, shocked beyond comprehension, gulped. His heart was still beating loudly in his ears from the sudden rush of combat that ended as soon as it started. He shakily stood up once Corrin put away his sword. "You...you actually bested me…in 10 seconds flat no less..." A mirthful, breathy chuckle escaped Xander as a full blown smile stretched across his face, surprising Corrin with how big and bright it beamed. "Incredible! You are just _incredible_! Little prince, I am _so proud_ of you! Your strikes held no hesitation—you finally came at me with the intent to kill!"

"Yep! That was the plan! Eheheh…" Corrin scratched his cheek sheepishly, feeling glad that he didn't get too carried away and actually kill his older brother...again. He glanced back at Leo smugly. "Well Leo? Is that proof enough for you?"

The always confident, calm, and collected genius-minded prince stood there shell-shocked at what just happened. His slack-jawed mouth gaped so wide that Corrin could probably fit an apple inside it if he tried. Leo couldn't believe that the soft-hearted prince, who didn't even have the heart to strike at Xander's horse a few weeks ago, had actually beaten Xander down to the ground, literally. Hell, he's been training way longer than Corrin has, yet he still hadn't once dented the crowned prince's armor much less strip Xander's arm-shield right off him.

Corrin laughed at the other's incredulous expression. He approached the dumbfounded prince. "Why do you look so shocked that I beat Xander, Brother? I told you, I'm not who you think I am anymore."

The Nohrian mage closed his mouth and swallowed, hard. "Okay, you've got my full attention." He glared at Corrin with uncertainty evident in his eyes. "Now speak. If you're not Corrin, then who are you?"

"Leo? What are you saying?" Xander joined the other two, creasing his brows in puzzlement. He looked at Corrin next. "Corrin, what's going on?"

The Manakete sighed. "Look, you two. I know this may sound crazy, but I'm not the naïve brother you think I am anymore." Corrin looked at them with a seriousness that seemed almost frightening. "I'm actually a 41-year-old Corrin from the future."

"..."

"..."

"..."

The roof suddenly became very quiet. Even the winds and owl hoots had stopped momentarily.

A loud breeze blew by awkwardly…

"Corrin…" Xander frowned with worry. "Are you feeling alright?"

"GODDAMN IT!" The albino prince spat, irked, surprising the Nohrian princes with the language he used. He glared at the two blondes with an angry tick mark on his forehead. "I swear to the gods, I'm _fine_! Really, I am! I'm not going crazy, so stop looking at me like I am!" He facepalmed and growled to himself in frustration. "I knew dropping the bomb on you guys like this might not be a good idea."

"'The bomb'?" Leo echoed in confusion.

"Yeah, the bomb! Or whatever! I don't know!" Corrin threw his arms up in the air in defeat, shaking his head from side to side. "It's...it's just something I know, that I know about, okay?! I just, I just know these terms and phrases for some reason, okay?!"

Xander looked distraught. "I can't believe it…"

"Yeah, it's hard for me to believe too, but apparently I just know these things now—"

"My dear little brother gained tremendous power, but in return the gods took away his sanity."

"I'M NOT INSANE!" Corrin roared indignantly.

The dragon prince stomped his feet around comically, like how Elise does whenever she found out that someone ate the last piece of her favorite chocolate cake.

"I'm not insane at least I'm not considering my current circumstance gods I feel like this is some sort of shitty anime plot and the main character just got bulldozed over by fate curse you Naga and every other damn dragon overlooking this and couldn't bother doing anything to help me what a bunch of lazy ass asses—" He glanced away, crossed his arms and pouted as he continued to mutter incomprehensible things that only convinced the other princes even more of his unfortunate sanity.

Seeing that the concerned and sad looks weren't disappearing from his brothers' faces but intensifying instead, Corrin gave up hope on ever convincing them that he was telling the truth. He sighed irritably.

'Geez, Azura may be in pain from not being able to tell the truth, but at least she's not in pain from telling the truth and no one believing her like I am right now.' Corrin stopped suddenly and immediately tried to dig up his last thought buried amongst the rest of the bizarre information somehow stuffed into his head. 'Wait, hold up. What was that? Azura's hiding something? I knew she was mysterious, but I thought that was just her style and a getup. Huh, who knew?'

Corrin shook himself out of his thoughts before sighing in exasperation and grabbing his stunned brothers by the forearms. "Come on you two. Let's go meet up with Camilla and Elise. If I remember correctly, they should have arrived by now." The dragon prince proceeded to drag them both down the stairs to the main hall.

...

"Hi, big Brother!" Elise was the first to spot the albino male marching towards them with her two other brothers in tow. She pranced to the princes in her usual cheer, not yet noticing the uncomfortable silent looks Xander and Leo shared. "I missed you!" She latched herself around Corrin's waist without hesitation, giggling in delight from being near her beloved brother again.

Corrin froze for a moment before slowly responding to the hug. He had not been hugged like that since, well, since he left Nohr; which to him felt like forever. Sure his Hoshidan family love him very much, but they like to be reserved about it, and during his first week at Castle Shirasagi, Corrin discovered that certain characteristic point about Hoshidans very quickly. Needless to say, Ryoma had been more or less humiliated, Sakura had never felt so violated in her entire life, Takumi hated him even more—yes, surprisingly it is possible, the silver-haired prince can actually muster up even more hatred towards him—and Corrin had never seen his mother—or any royal ruler—laugh, cry, and blush that much all at once. The only one who went unscathed during that fiasco was Hinoka solely because she got up to order more rice pudding from the servants; which allowed her to evade his 'over-the-top Nohrian affections', or as Takumi called it, his ' _stupid_ , over-the-top Nohrian affections'.

"Ah...I missed you too." Corrin returned Elise's hug back awkwardly. He meant it, though. He truly, deep inside his heart, missed his little Nohrian sister. Actually, he missed his whole Nohrian family. He missed Leo's cynical remarks. He missed Camilla's doting. He missed Elise's sunny smile. And he missed Xander's familiar, comforting presence that made him feel like everything will be okay.

He's missed his old, innocently sheltered life: before the war, before he had to choose, and before things had become so damn complicated. If this is what the afterlife was—back to this simple time when he was happy just to be with his Nohrian siblings and didn't know any better—then Corrin honestly wouldn't mind dropping dead right now.

But sadly, that's not the case as he certainly knows better. Corrin had pinched himself earlier and felt pain—which meant he's neither dead nor dreaming—and he still remembers that he has another family all the way on the other side of the continent. As crazy as it sounds, Corrin's starting to finally acknowledge that he had officially screwed himself over with some kind of powerful deity or another, just enough to be sent back in time to relive the most hellish phase of his life, and with an added head full of vocabulary and knowledge that even he wasn't sure what they meant to boot.

Boy was he one unfortunate dude.

'Whelp, at least I still got my health.' Corrin thought sarcastically. He knows he should be more excited about this—for the gods' sakes, he has a chance to redo all his mistakes and a chance to make things right!—but he wasn't young anymore—well, mentally anyway—and that bright, optimistic naïvete had faded away long ago when his older Nohrian brother gave him a desperate look before he literally threw himself upon Yato, brokenhearted and unwilling to go on after slaying Elise by his own hand and listening to the deaths of both his retainers. On that day, the dragon prince knew Xander could kill him in less than 5 minutes, yet…

Corrin remembered how in his rage-induced fury, on the last finishing strike, Xander had smiled peacefully and spread out his arms as he purposely leaned off his horse just as Corrin closed in on him. In that moment, he intentionally became a human-target dressed in shining dark armor for Yato to pierce through.

Damn that noble, selfish bastard. Because of him, he's made Corrin's conscious feel so guilty that he's had nightmares about it for three months straight.

'Now I understand what Takumi goes through on most nights…' Corrin scrunched his eyebrows. 'Wait...he has nightmares about me? Poor guy, just how much did I traumatize him when he was little? What's more ridiculous is that I wasn't even in Hoshido and yet I've already caused him enough grief to ruin his childhood.'

"Ummm, Earth to big Brother!" Corrin snapped out of his thoughts by a tiny, prodding finger poking at his cheek. Elise was up on her tiptoes, face so close to Corrin's own that made him automatically flinch violently backwards.

"Huh? Big Brother?" Elise looked like a kicked puppy. Why had her dearest brother move away from her like that?

"Oh my…" Camilla, standing behind her, looked confused and hurt as well.

"Oh uhh…" Corrin sweated, mentally cursing at his involuntary action. Seriously, he's been in Hoshido for _way_ too long. "Sorry Elise, you just surprised me is all."

The youngest princess was eerily quiet for a moment before humming thoughtfully. "Hmm. Corrin, you seem different somehow today."

"Er...do I?" The albino tilted his head, smiling sheepishly.

"Uh, yeah, you do." The young princess replied as she puffed out her cheeks. Suddenly she brightened and her face lit up with a smile once more. "Oh I know why you look different! It's because you grew!"

"I...grew?" Corrin echoed cluelessly, tilting his head the other way.

"Yeah! Somehow, I dunno why, but you look like you grew a lot! You look older!" The girl giggled before grabbing Corrin's hand and began bouncing on the spot for his attention. "But anyway, I have super good news big Brother! We—"

"Wait Elise, I'd like to inform our dear brother the good news! I've been _dying_ to do so ever since father told us!" Camilla cut in, finally joining in the conversation. The familiar warm smile is back on her beautiful face, directed at Corrin without any malice unlike during their battles at Cheve and at the Underground Tunnel. The Manakete was glad Camilla wasn't trying to kill him anymore, but he couldn't help making a face at the 'good news' that he already knows.

"Huh? What's wrong Corrin?" The eldest Princess of Nohr frowned a little at the sour expression on Corrin's face.

"Eh. Nothing much." The albino prince grumbled moodily, crossing his arms and looking to the side thoughtfully. 'Damn. If I'm back in time, then that butt-ugly dragon of an old ape is alive again. Looks like I'll have to find some way to kill him. Again.'

"Oh, are you sure? You can tell me, your reliable big sister, can't you?" She paused as she seemed to have thought of something. "Did Xander go at you too hard again during training? I'll be sure to whack him for you if you desire it."

Corrin hummed, stroking his chin mischievously like he's actually considering it...which he is.

Xander blinked his eyes wide and held his hands up in surrender. "Wait. No. Stop. I didn't do _anything_ to him."

"Then do tell why Corrin is so unhappy. Clearly you've done _something_ to upset him." Camilla fussed, glancing at Corrin momentarily—who was giving her a pitiful 'I'm the victim' look, the nerve of that little jerk—before advancing upon the panicking Paladin in the fashion of an overprotective mother bear.

"Sister, Xander is telling the truth." Leo gracefully came in to save his brother's hide, much to Corrin's slight disappointment. "And I think he's had enough of a beating today."

"Xander received a beating? From who?" Elise exclaimed incredulously, not believing one bit that someone had taught Xander a thing or two at combat of all things. She knows how well her oldest brother excel at dueling.

"Believe it or not…" Xander cleared his throat as he turned towards Corrin. Said prince looked at him with a raised brow. "Corrin actually bested me in combat training today. And no, I was not going easy on him. In fact, he was the one who ambushed and attacked me first, and despite my best attempt at blocking, he managed to tear my shield as well as my armor and clothing right off me." Xander raised his partly bare arm as if to prove his point. He smiled proudly at the nakedness of his forearm and at both his sisters' stunned reactions. "Indeed, I am still quite impressed and a little shocked myself."

The two princesses stared at Corrin in disbelief. Elise's mouth hung wide open while Camilla covered hers with a hand.

"Big Brother, really?! You beat Xander?! I can't believe it! W-wow!"

"I knew my little Corrin was strong, but darling, I didn't imagine you to be so strong as to strip your brother's arm clean." Camilla did a double take at Xander's arm and gasped again. "Dear lord, even his arm hair is shaved."

"Oh is it?" Xander's eyebrows rose up incredulously before he took a second to observe his forearm closely for the first time. The Paladin widened his eyes again for the umpteenth time today as he sweated in both astonishment and apprehension. "By the gods, she's right."

The whole family gathered around Xander's arm, and Corrin thought it kinda funny how they're making such a commotion over arm hair.

"..." Leo glanced over at the amused dragon prince with a slightly nonplussed expression. "Remind me to not get into a sword fight with you anytime soon. I'd like my arm to remain intact as much as possible."

"Woooooaaaah!" Elise's eyes sparkled in total awe. "When did you get this STRONG Corrin?! You're so awesome!"

"What kind of a training regiment did you put yourself into, little prince?" Xander scrunched his eyebrows in concern and curiosity. "I hope it wasn't anything reckless. Endangering your health in the process of training will only handicap you on the real battlefield, and that is a foolish move."

"Oh, don't worry about that Xander, I'm fine." Corrin waved his hand half-heartedly. He then smirked playfully at his Nohrian family. "But my 'training regiment' is a secret. I can't tell you guys, so sorry!"

"Awwwww." Elise pouted and whined loudly on the side. "Why nooooooot?"

"You all wouldn't believe me if I told you the truth."

"You mean that farfetched story you told us on the roof?" Leo narrowed his eyes at Corrin, irked at how his adopted brother is still clinging onto his preposterous futuristic claim.

"What story? Told you what?" The little Troubadour swiveled her head back and forth between Leo and Corrin in confusion.

"Try us." Camilla encouraged. "Let's hear it. We'll be the judge of whether or not it is believable."

Corrin looked at his two sisters as earnestly as he could. With as much seriousness as he can muster onto his face, he said, "I'm from the future."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Xander and Leo could only close their eyes and sigh. There he goes again with the whole time travel and future thing. They would hate to admit that their brother had actually gone crazy, but it was getting harder for them to ignore his wild claims. If this was a simple joke that Corrin fancied playing on them, then they would greatly appreciate it if Corrin could cut it out, or at least give them a heads up that this was all a joke.

That overwhelming silence came back again. This time, the silence stretched on so long that Corrin got increasingly annoyed by the second.

"Well?" The albino prince gestured around as he tried to incite a response from his family. "What do you think?"

"Gee, umm…" Elise pursed her lips. "Y'know big Brother, if you really don't want to tell us your secret training methods, you can just say so."

At this, Corrin sighed sadly. 'Of course she doesn't believe me. This is so discouraging. I was sure that Elise would be the first one to believe my story…'

"Hmm, hang on now." Camilla chuckled. " _I_ believe you, Corrin dear."

Corrin blinked in surprise. "Y-you do?"

"Of course." Camilla gives him an eye-smile. "I will always believe you, Corrin. Just like the time you told me there was a big, scary monster under your bed—oh you were _so cute_ back then!" The violette gushed over one of her childhood memories of the unamused Manakete in front of her. "Don't worry, I will continue to stand by your side just like always."

'But you don't believe a lick of what I'm saying, do ya? Geez, thanks for the support big Sister.' Corrin bit back the sarcastic reply.

"Anyway, back to the matter at hand," Xander looked at Camilla expectantly, "what was this news you wanted to tell Corrin?"

"Oh that's right!" Camilla grinned excitedly at Corrin. "Darling! Father has permitted you to go back to Castle Krakenburg!"

'And then send me off to get kidnapped by Hoshidans, accidentally kill my own mother therefore dispelling her magic barrier shield, start a full-on war, and force me to choose between my birth family and the family that raised me. Ain't he such a _great_ guy? What a _great_ , fucking guy.'

Corrin snapped out of his angry thoughts once he realized everyone was waiting for his reply. He thought that he should maybe at least act excited, otherwise they'd never stop giving him those goddamn worried looks.

"Wait, really?!" He cracked a huge, naïve smile that reached from one ear to another. "Th-that's awesome! I finally get to leave this place?! Y-yes!"

Slow reaction time aside, the Nohrian royals expected the overjoyed behaviour from Corrin, and they all looked on with fondness as Corrin began jumping with Elise, giggling in glee and laughing in celebration of his newfound freedom.

'Perhaps Corrin is somewhat sane after all.' Xander thought with relief evident in his facial expressions. 'Because he still has his desire for freedom from this confinement and his love for his family, Corrin is still our beloved brother.'

'Although he is undeniably persistent about his future story. I've never seen him act and look so serious about anything before. Could he be telling the truth…?' Leo shook his head and mentally berated himself. 'No. Don't be silly. It's not possible to time travel. There are spells that can distort the space between different worlds, but there is no spell that can distort the flow of time. Not to mention there exists absolutely no record of time traveling either.'

"Well, let's get going soon then!" Corrin cheered excitedly. "I'm gonna go tell Gunter and the others to pack their things! Be right down in 20 minutes! Ohhh I can't wait! Woo-hoo!" The albino prince begins running off and waving back at them before he could even finish his own sentence, causing the Nohrian royalty to chuckle at his childish innocence.

As Corrin ran towards his room, he was far from thinking innocent thoughts. With a firm scowl glued to his face, Corrin looked as intimidating as Xander on a bad day. His happy-go-lucky façade dropped, Corrin contemplated on his current circumstance. He thought of his next move: on how to handle the meeting with the fat old gorilla, on how to save Gunter, and on how to make sure his Hoshidan family believe his future story—unlike his Nohrian one.


	3. Gift of Gang—NO THANK YOU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corrin beats the crap out of everybody: Kaze gets a headache, Rinkah gets a punch to the gut, and poor, poor Xander is beaten up by a loaf of bread.
> 
> Corrin swears and flips Garon off, and Garon is understandably very confused and don't know what the hell is going on. In fact, EVERYONE is very confused and don't know what the hell is going on.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

_Emphasis_

LOUD NOISES

'Quoting'

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Gift of Gang—NO THANK YOU**

* * *

...

Felicia wasn't sure what to think of her master anymore. Honestly, _none_ of them knew what's what at this point. Everyone had thought that Corrin would be literally bouncing off the carriage walls the whole way to Windmire in pure excitement, but instead the boy just sat there calmly in his seat, looking tiredly out the window as if the outside world is the most boring place on earth. Corrin, the pampered prince who lived a sheltered lifestyle for most of his life; the boy who begged longingly and frequently fantasized about going outside ever since early childhood; was looking as unamused as a child who got socks for Christmas.

What. The. Hell.

"Corrin…"

The white-haired prince snapped out of his numb trance and looked up at the seat across from him.

"Hm? Yeah?" He gave a wide, lazy yawn. "Are we there already?" Corrin legitimately wasn't aware that he was channeling his inner Dwyer up to now until it was finally pointed out to him by Leo.

"I thought you'd be more excited about this, Brother. Is it not your dream to be finally out and about from the confines of that fortress? You seem as tired as Xander after a night of paperwork." Leo mused. The Paladin sitting next to him exhaled an audible puff of air through his nose indignantly, but nonetheless with his eyes closed and arms crossed, he nodded in agreement with the younger prince's statement. "Care to enlighten us on what's causing you such disinterest?"

"Ahh, umm…" Corrin wracked his brain for a good excuse, struggling and slightly off put by the sudden improv he had to think up on the spot. "I...I, um, I woke up too early for training today. Yeah, that's it. Heheh, guess I was too worked up about you guys visiting me last night that I barely got any sleep in before waking up this morning."

Leo raised a very skeptical brow, clearly not buying it. "Corrin, we left the Northern Fortress yesterday afternoon, been on the move throughout the night—which you've slept through soundly on Camilla's lap, might I add—and right now it's 10 in the morning."

"Ughhh, how am I supposed to know what time it is? You know how hard it is for me to tell whether it's night or day in Nohr." The albino whined childishly, folding his arms and pouting as he refused to meet Leo's gaze, thus giving off a great resemblance to an upset Elise.

"Corrin...we just had breakfast." Leo deadpanned.

"...oh yeah. Right." The Manakete scratched his head sheepishly before reaching his arms upward to stretch his spine out nonchalantly. He was doing just about anything to distract himself from his embarrassment at being one-upped and having his hasty lame lie exposed. "Sorry, heh, I forgot."

"Did you not sleep well, Corrin?" Camilla asked with a small frown. "I do admit that I've packed quite a bit of hard muscle in my thighs since the last time I saw you. Is that why you didn't sleep well?"

"No." Corrin gave her a reassuring look. "It's not you, Camilla. Your thighs are, er, as soft as always. I just…" He sighed to himself, glancing down at his sweaty, gloved palms resting comfortably on his lap. "I have a lot on my mind right now. I mean, it's pretty overwhelming for me to be outside as it is, and the idea of being finally reunited with you guys hadn't fully sunk in until last night, so I got really restless and couldn't get a wink of sleep in."

"Oh, is that so? I see…" Camilla chuckled endearingly, glad that she wasn't the one who cost her precious sibling his sleep. "You poor dear, it must be tiring for you to be processing these new circumstances all at once. I know that it may feel like everything is going really fast right now, but don't you worry your pretty little head off because I'm here for you."

"We all are." Xander added in. Elise and Felicia was smiling and nodding furiously in confirmation beside Xander.

The dragon prince chuckled gratefully at his family's supportive attitudes. "Thanks, you guys." But inside, however, Corrin couldn't help but feel a tad bit guilty at having to lie to his cherished family. What he said was somewhat true, though. He _is_ feeling a swell of emotion just from being with his Nohrian siblings again—who are all alive and happy, not dead and miserable—but he was pondering more on his uncertain future and the decisions that he plans to make differently this time around. He stayed up all night on Camilla's lap, eyes closed to feign sleep but was actually scheming and planning on what to do next. He wanted to make sure that the outcomes of the war wouldn't be so devastating for Nohr like the first time, but most importantly, he wanted to save as many lives dear to him as possible. Even so, Corrin still felt guilty for lying to his loving Nohrian family, but he knows that judging by their extremely concerned looks they gave him yesterday when he spoke of his future status, they wouldn't believe a single word if he told them the truth. If he were to speak his true intentions, they'd chalk it up to his new temporal and constantly fluctuating insanity, thus sending him more sad, pitying gazes—which were incredibly annoying—and worry some more.

'I know what's going to happen next, which gives me a great advantage and the element of surprise, but if I change the timeline too much, I wouldn't be sure what to expect next. I'll lose predictability and be subjected to uncalled surprises…' Corrin then tsked softly to himself, irked. 'Whatever. I'll just YOLO it! Yeah, I'll do that! I've lived through this war once, how hard can it be to live through it again?'

Leo, noticing the irritation in Corrin's features, asked, "hm? Is something wrong? What's bothering you now, Brother?"

"Nothing...I'm just...tired…" Corrin mumbled, trailing off. Refusing to further engage in his poor skills at improv—which did not improve at all throughout the war, but instead became impossibly suckier than the time when he and Felicia ended up in Ylisse—Corrin propped up an elbow on a tiny ledge protruding near the window to rest his chin in his palm as he went back to passively staring out the window at the blurred, dark and dreary landscape rapidly moving and changing from the speed that the carriage was going at.

'Hmm...now how am I going to deal with Kaze and Rinkah?'

…

Windmire was gloomy as always, and Castle Krakenburg was even gloomier. As always.

But who could blame it? It was basically an oversized hole in the ground; unlike Shirasagi which stood tall and proud and unafraid of the world like any proper castle should.

Corrin could hear his Hoshidan pride, built up over the years after choosing to side with Hoshido, mentally manifest into a mini Takumi with a cheering headband tied around his forehead and yelling 'HOSHIDO ROCKS, NOHR SUCKS' through a plastic megaphone.

The albino prince shook his head to clear away the borderline racist thoughts. He silently worked on steeling himself for the inevitable confrontation, but not before cracking an amused smile at Elise's enthusiastic two-armed waving in front of the castle doors. He marched up into the reception room alongside his siblings with as much elegance and confidence as a leopard stalking its prey.

"I see you've made it safely." The deep, unmistakable dark voice of the Nohrian King boomed across the room.

"Yes father. Thank you for welcoming us." Xander replied graciously, bowing for good measure.

"It is no problem." The Nohrian King grumbled before he directed his disdainful gaze at Corrin. "Child, it has been a long time."

"Yes father. It has." It took a substantial amount of willpower to keep the hate and distrust out of his tone. It took even more self-control to not outright curse profanities at him and name him the ugly behind of a fat pig.

"Hm." Garon grunted gruffly, nonchalantly even. "I have heard good things of you from Xander. I see you are now a warrior on par with him in combat and strength?"

"Yes, father." Xander answered for Corrin, a small yet proud smile on his face. "I do not exaggerate when I say that he has managed to best me in a formal duel. Using wits, skills, and natural prowess, I was dismounted from my steed by his hand in less than 10 seconds."

"Hmm, that is very impressive indeed. Good work, child." Garon praised with something akin to pride in his stormy eyes. "I feel...proud of you."

"Thank you, father. It really was nothing too impressive." Corrin lowered his head, not out of respect, but out of disgust. He didn't want any of them to see the discontent on his face, otherwise they're all gonna make a stupid fuss over it.

Well Garon took it as a sign of respect, whether fortunately or unfortunately for Corrin. The old king nodded, pleased by the display of obedience. "It is no small feat to be able to best Xander in combat. Do not sell yourself short. Modesty is appealing, but not quite as appealing as taking pride in your strength." He straightened, ancient muscles under heavy black armor rippling across leathery aged skin as his mighty figure rose up to reach his full height. "We of the royal family are descendants of the ancient gods, the First Dragons. As inheritors of that divine strength, we conquer those who oppose us with ease. One who learns to wield that power can destroy an entire army of common troops. Now, it is time to formally acknowledge your hard efforts and welcome you back as a royal Prince of Nohr. Like the rest of your siblings, you are now officially an instrument of war used to crush Nohr's enemies. Honor it, my child."

Corrin wanted to roll his eyes so badly at him. 'Oh my Gawd, will his stupid speech ever end? Just let me fight already!'

Garon's previously calm façade suddenly cracked and fury enveloped his face. "Our neighboring kingdom to the east, the Kingdom of Hoshido, is a land filled with unappreciative, selfish savages. As you know, Hoshido has been our enemy for quite some time, and I think Nohr has had enough of their foolish attitude."

Corrin wanted to narrow his eyes so badly at him. 'Hey! _You're_ an 'unappreciative, selfish savage'! That's the other half of my precious family you're insulting! I think you should watch your tongue, old man!'

The angry scowl on Garon's ash grey complexion lessened when he directed his gaze specifically at Corrin again. "Step forward, child. I have a gift for you."

This time, Corrin did glare at him as the cursed sword suddenly morphed into existence in front of him. He remembered all the unnecessary grief and chaos it caused, and thus bared his unnaturally sharp canines at it.

"This is an enchanted sword from another realm, it's name is Gang—"

"NO THANK YOU."

An utterly and incredibly awkward silence shrouded the reception room. Everyone's expressions ranged from dumbfounded to nonplussed to one of total shock and fright.

Garon, frozen in animation like a piece of clay, took another moment to register just who in the world had the audacity to obnoxiously cut him off like that—something that hadn't been done to him in more than a decade—just to deny his overly generous gift. His gaze focused back onto his children, who all sported expressions of something in between panic and terror, except Corrin, who was the only one that looked indifferent.

It clicked in Garon's mind that Corrin was actually the one who cut him off and rejected his gift. It's as if a light switch had flipped on because in the next moment, Garon saw red.

"You DARE refuse?!" The King roared in blinding rage. "How dare you insult me, you worthless scum?! I offer the best weapon to defend yourself with, yet you say _NO_?!"

Xander knew he had to step up and shield his little brother, otherwise in a few seconds an axe would come flying through the albino male, carving him vertically in half. "F-father, I'm sure that Corrin doesn't—"

"It's so _ugly_!" Corrin exclaimed bluntly, much to Xander's absolute jaw-dropping horror. "I mean look at it! What kind of a sword is crooked this badly and looks like the nasty end of a lumpy boulder's butt?" He pointed at the uneven bumps on the idiotically curved blade. He then tilted his head and squinted. "What kinda color is this anyway? It looks like a mixture between barf and shit spewed out from an alcoholic rainbow."

At this, Garon's last shred of nonexistent patience flew away. "WHY YOU LITTLE—"

"Father!" Xander strode to Corrin's side quickly and held up a protective arm in front of the albino, sporting a brave yet trembling face. "F-father, please. I beg of you. Please, _please_ forgive Corrin's impudence. He hasn't had a good night's sleep and is severely sleep deprived. I apologize for his disrespectful attitude, and if anything, I will gladly take his punishment in his stead—"

"No Xander, I'm responsible for my own words and actions." Corrin turned his ruby eyes to stare directly into Garon's enraged ones, and like a wild animal, this action only infuriated the old man even more. "Father, it's plain and simple; I really don't want this sword."

"Corrin, what are you doing?!" Xander whispered harshly with a strained look in his eyes. By now, his stress meter had gone through the roof. He did _NOT_ want to lose a sibling today, damn it!

Garon was practically seething foam through his tightly clenched teeth. "You don't want this sword, you say!? Fine!" He growled gutturally, briefly reminding Corrin of his other draconic form. "Then you don't get the privilege of having any!" He retrieved the sword back to his hand and barked out, "GUARDS! Bring out the prisoners!"

"Yes, sire!" A stereotypical grunt soldier responded immediately as he motioned to the others to release the men and woman they were holding hostage up until now. Corrin immediately recognized the two red and green prominent figures running out and crouching into their battle stances.

Corrin raised his brows to feign confusion. "Huh? What's this? Who're they?"

"They are Hoshidan warriors, captured from our most recent skirmish with Hoshido." Garon grunted gruffly yet evenly, all anger seemingly forgotten momentarily. "You will prove your worth against them, and since you're so sure on not needing a sword, let's see how well you'll fare against them without one." The dark king curled his lips into a dangerous smirk. "If you survive, then I will oversee your insulting behaviour against me."

"What…?" Xander murmured and stared wide-eyed in disbelief before turning to Garon with a desperate plea on his lips. "Fighting without a weapon? That's madness! It'll kill him! Please! You can't do this! Father!"

"Father!" Elise yelled out, fearing Corrin's gruesome demise.

"Father!" Leo echoed, distressed.

" _Father_!" Camilla implored heatedly. "I'm begging you father! Please reconsider—"

"SILENCE!" Garon shouted deafeningly, effectively shutting everyone up. "He will receive no help from any of you or his retainers. If what you claim of him defeating you is true, Xander, then he should be able to defeat these weaklings, with or without a weapon."

"Ughh." Xander curled his gauntleted hands tightly. He could feel the sharp ends of his fingers digging tiny holes into his palms, no doubt leaving behind marks on his skin. 'Corrin, what have you gotten yourself into?!' The Paladin looked over at the Nohrian Prince only to find him the calmest person in the room, much to the blonde's surprise. "Corrin…?"

"Hm?" Corrin broke his eyes away from the female Oni Savage readying her cheaply given club, and the Ninja who was trying his best to reassure the young, nervous Samurais. He looked up at Xander cluelessly, not seeming to care at all that he's entering a fight without a blade or tome. "Yeah, big Brother?"

"Why…?" Xander furrowed his brows together in genuine confusion. "Why aren't you worrying? You're literally going into battle without a weapon. You may as well be going into battle stark naked!"

"Oh is that why you look more flustered than usual?" The albino flashed him a friendly grin. "Don't worry Xander, I can do this. _Trust me_."

"What are you waiting for child? GO!" Garon ordered aggressively, pointing with a clawed finger at the wary Hoshidans.

"Alright, alright. I heard ya the first time, old geezer." Corrin picked his ear uncaringly with his pinky finger as he gave an annoyed glare at Garon—who in turn looked about ready to fight the prince himself—before walking off to the supposed battlefield with as much nonchalance as one would have when going to take out the trash. He paused as if remembering something before turning his head back to the group.

"Hey Felicia! Can you give me the bread I asked you to pack for me?"

"Eh?" The pinkette blinked in surprise before looking down at the paper-wrapped packaged that she was unconsciously hugging to her chest throughout the whole hostile exchange. Back at the fortress when they were packing their belongings in a relatively peaceful quietness, Corrin had suddenly jumped up in a moment of eureka and spun around to grip onto both her shoulders, intensely demanding her to pack the stalest, hardest, oldest piece of bread from the pantry and bring it with them to the castle. They were alone: together, in Corrin's bedroom, and with no one else around. Needless to say, Felicia had been scared out of her wits. She had no idea what to do with none of the other stewards around to rely on at the time, so blaming the weakness of her big, stammering mouth—and, understandably, the terror in her quivering heart—she agreed to bring a loaf of week old bread with her on the trip. Gunter, Flora, and Jakob had given her strange looks, but did not comment on it.

The pinkette snapped out of her little memory and nearly jumped out of her skin at the thundering yell of the Nohrian King.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!"

"Grabbing a snack obviously. I'm hungry."

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO INDULGE IN DINING ACTIVITIES AT THIS TIME! ARE YOU STUPID, BOY?!"

"But I'm hungryyyyyyyy!" Corrin slumped his shoulders and whined like a kid at a toy store. "Also, this is a free country! So I can do whatever—" Suddenly he paused and straightened up. Placing a hand under his chin, he stroked it as he rested his other hand on his hip. He gazed at his feet and said thoughtfully. "Actually, no. That argument's only valid for democratic societies. I guess it wouldn't work for Nohr."

After a very brief moment of incredulous bafflement, Garon snapped out of it and boomed, completely livid. "ARE YOU MOCKING ME?!"

"—yes—"

"You are to FIGHT, not EAT! Now quit your incessant whining, damned fool!"

Corrin huffed and rolled his eyes with impeccable sass. " _Okay, okay. Fiiiiine._ I'm on it."

Garon let loose a long, tired sigh as he rubbed his brow. 'Finally. It'll be a very enjoyable show once I see your guts and innards spilling out of your lifeless body, foolish boy!' The evil king thought with a malicious grin pasted on his face.

Felicia and Gunter, as well as the rest of the Nohrian royals minus Garon, looked incredibly uneasy. The two loyal servants hoped beyond hope that their young master will remain in one piece by the end of the battle.

"Here goes…" The albino Manakete closed his eyes and let out a long sigh before reopening them. The familiar tactical grid-by-grid view he's taken to visualize the battlefield materialized in his mind. He narrowed his crimson eyes, entering total concentration mode. Oni Savage and Samurai on the left, Samurai and Ninja on the right: defensive and powerful on the left, quick and evasive on the right. Easy-peasy.

He easily spots the Dragon Vein, runs to it, and activates it immediately. Debris and other random junk blasted out of the square like Team Rocket after getting a Thunderbolt from Pikachu. He then dashed onto the healing tiles, stood there inside the structure, and waited.

"Good job spotting the Dragon Vein, Lord Corrin!" Gunter called out to cheer him on. "Stay in there to heal your injuries!"

The first enemy arrived on the left. An Oni Savage. The brutish man growled lowly at Corrin before charging at him like a bull, club raised and ready to strike. Corrin's family—minus Garon—all held their breaths in anticipation and dread, but what happened next completely took them all by surprise.

Instead of a skull-crushing crack they all expected to hear, they could only hear grunts of frustration from the Oni Savage trying to overpower the hand holding onto the heavy end of his club in a vice-like grip.

Corrin, like the badass he is, had blocked the attack effortlessly with a single hand.

After a few more moments of the Oni Savage struggling to reattain his weapon back, the white-haired prince, with a blank expression, suddenly yanked the club out of the man's hands, and using the momentum he took this moment to punch the guy in the abdomen. Despite the Oni Savage's well-built abs, the Hoshidan could definitely taste the coppery blood coughed out from his mouth.

Not giving the poor warrior a break, Corrin took the club, brought it around his shoulders, and swung at the Hoshidan warrior's jaw like he was hitting a homerun in a game of baseball. The Oni Savage was instantly knocked out on the ground with a very dislocated jaw.

Corrin took a second to glance at the man he had mercilessly beaten into unconsciousness guiltily. He knew that the strength of the nameless guy stood no chance compared to his own, and Corrin knew he had just intentionally hurt one of his citizens; which is something dishonorable for a Hoshidan Prince to do. However, the albino prince also knows that Oni Savages are made of sturdier material than Ninjas and Samurais, so being a little rough on them is fine. He just needs to watch his strength a bit more closely from now on.

That said, Corrin was exceptionally pleased to find that most of his strength and skills he had when he was 41 had transferred back into his younger body. He wondered if the sudden burst of might and the newly added muscle memory(ies) had put any major strains on his young body. Maybe he should ask Sakura about it when he sees her again.

Hitting the bronze club lightly into his palm absentmindedly, Corrin took a chance to peek back at his spectators, and couldn't help but nearly burst out laughing.

Dumbfounded wasn't even _close_ to describe what the viewers watching on the sidelines had looked like. They were all wide-eyed, open-mouthed, and had shocked, empty-looking stares. Yes, even King Garon! It was because no one knew what had just happened in the last few seconds. All they saw was a poorly constructed club coming down on Corrin's head, the movement suddenly frozen as if time itself had stopped, a blurry jab from Corrin's arm, and a brief flash of an image of Corrin in a white jersey swinging a silver bat at a tiny white ball.

It was weird.

Corrin chuckled and then turned to face his next opponent. A Samurai came around the corner, took one look at his unconscious comrade, and gasped. His eyes widened comically as he looked fearfully at Corrin.

"What's up?" Corrin grinned mischievously, face resembling a smiling shark.

"How...how did you…?" The Hoshidan looked him up and down carefully. "Didn't King Garon say you don't have a weapon…?"

"Yes, he did." The white-haired prince shrugged. He then grinned that sharp-toothed smile again. "Doesn't mean I can't use someone else's though." With that, he started rapidly whirling his arm holding the club around and around in a big circle before releasing his grip and launching the club straight at the Samurai like a freaking Kodachi, striking him squarely on the chest.

The man gasped from pain and shock, flying backwards and conveniently crashing into the next Samurai who appeared around the corner at that exact moment. The two swordsmen groaned on the ground, both of them gingerly rubbing the back of their heads. Apparently, they fell too hard and have minor concussions now.

Corrin rolled his eyes. 'Damn, I can't believe I had struggled defeating them when I first fought them. Was I that friggin' weak?' He gave them a quick calculating glance over and nodded to himself, seemingly satisfied. 'Meh. They'll be okay. The healtiles will heal them back to full health soon enough.'

By then Rinkah, Kaze, and the last Samurai appeared. They were all quite surprised to see half their numbers already downed by a single Nohrian, who, amazingly and annoyingly, did not have a single weapon on him. No one knew how the hell it was possible for this—this _bored looking_ royal—to be standing there, surrounded by defeated Hoshidan soldiers, but perfectly unharmed. Honestly, not even the Nohrians looking from afar knew what to make of this phenomenon.

All they could do was stare in awe and astonishment—yes! Even Garon!

Corrin took notice of Kaze and Rinkah's arrival, and to make matters even more confusing, he split open a beaming, _genuine_ smile at them.

"Hey guys! How's it going?"

"..." Rinkah shot him an incredulous look, glanced behind him to look at Kaze and flailed her hands about gesturing wildly and confusedly at the albino—but the Ninja in response gravely shook his head, equally puzzled—before finally settling for a heated glare at the smiling prince. "Who are you? Why are you smiling? Are you insane?"

The happy smile instantly dropped. Corrin fisted both of his hands into his hair and moaned in frustration. "Oh gods, not you guys too!"

"Um, excuse me?" Kaze asked, honest-to-goodness feeling lost. "May I ask, what is your name?"

Corrin mocked a hurt look. "Awww Kaze? You forgot about me? I thought I was your most important charge."

"My charge…?" The Ninja now officially looked even more confused, if that was possible.

"Yes, your charge! The one who you were supposed to secretly help look after during the trip Sumeragi took to Cheve." Corrin quirked an eyebrow at him questioningly as one of his hands came up to rest on his hip casually. "Don't you remember?"

Kaze gasped, alarmed. "How...how did you...?!" He gulps thickly, suddenly feeling as if there is no oxygen in the room. "C...Corrin…?"

"Hey!" Rinkah barked out, irritated at said prince for just ignoring her like that. "Why don't you stop talking and fight me already?!"

"No way!" Corrin replied, crossing his arms and frowning. "I don't wanna hurt you, Rinkah."

The tribalist reeled back in shock. "H-how the hell do you know my name?!"

"'I am Rinkah. Daughter of the Flame Tribe's honorable chieftain'. That's what you were gonna say, right?" Corrin stated with a playful smirk, shocking everyone—but in all seriousness, who _isn't_ shocked beyond words at this point?

After a few more moments of utter silence, Rinkah was, unexpectedly, the first one who managed to pull herself together. She schooled her expression to be as neutral as possible when staring at the anomaly that is Corrin. "You know what, I'm not gonna ask. But judging by my unconscious comrades and the lack of anything sharp or heavy in your hands, I will at least commend you for your hand-to-hand combat abilities—even if I do find it quite insulting that you Nohrians don't even bother to honor us by fighting us with actual weapons." She gritted her teeth angrily as well as her grip on her club.

Corrin shrugged and gave her an apologetic, sheepish grin. "Sorry about that. I got into a dispute with Nohr's King, so that's why he sent me out here to fight you guys without anything to aid me."

The female warrior rose an impressed brow at this. "Hmm. Well damn. You sure got guts. I gotta say I admire your bravery, honestly." Rinkah pulled her lips into a deep scowl. She raised her club slightly in a battle-ready stance. "But despite my admiration, you are still my enemy, and I'm not planning to go easy on you! I will crush you!"

"I know. And believe me when I say that I don't doubt your skills with a club, and—" Panic and wonder suddenly morphed onto his face in a split second. He stared past her at something so grand, so _awesome_ , that it took his breath away. "OH MY GOD! Rinkah! Look! BIG FIRE!"

"WHERE?!" The tribalist roared, spinning around with the excitement of a puppy in search of a possible bonfire. Unfortunately for the almost forgotten Samurai beside her, the club she held followed through with her sharp movement and, obeying the laws of physics like any good weapon should, pummeled itself violently into the man's neck.

The poor guy dropped his sword and wrapped his hands around his fractured trachea, coughing and choking as he fell to his knees and kneeled over in brutal pain. He then collapsed to his side and curled up into a pitiful ball, wheezing and crying into himself.

Staring at the crumbled form of the man, Rinkah felt absolutely awful. She furrowed her eyebrows with concern and guilt. "Uhh, Hatake? You alright…? I'm...I'm sorry?"

Corrin winced at the nasty blue bruise forming quickly around the Samurai's—Hatake's—throat area. "Oooh, that's gotta hurt." Seeing the mortified look on Rinkah's face, he tried to be nice and lighten the mood. "Well hey, at least you didn't swing too low and break his balls like you broke his windpipe just now." At this, Corrin paused to consider what he had said and then grimaced at the thought. 'Ouch. You know what, it's a good thing Hatake's throat was hit.'

Rinkah's devastated look immediately shifted to outright fury. "You…! YOU!" She pointed her club at him menacingly. "How dare you trick me?! You coward! You lying, cheating _coward_!" With that, she rammed her body forward, club held in the air like the Olympic Torch.

"Whoa!" Corrin narrowly dodged the strike, agily sidestepping behind her with speed much faster than the flame tribalist's own.

"Rinkah! Behind you!" Kaze exclaimed, a hand held out vainly but otherwise unable to help.

"Huh—?!" Suddenly the female Oni Savage felt the ground disappear under her feet. "Wah?!"

"Alley-oop!" Corrin used one hand to grab her by the scruff of her buff neck and the other by the back of her pants. With spectacular strength, he easily lifted her up on her back with her front facing the ceiling.

"Y-you! What is the meaning of this?! Put me down!" Rinkah demanded, squirming in the air like a flipped turtle.

"Alright alright, chill out brah." Rinkah couldn't _see_ him, but she could certainly _hear_ the shit-eating grin dominating most of Corrin's face. He rocked Rinkah back and forth playfully before throwing her out of the square structure towards the bewitched crowd.

Rinkah landed with a heavy thud in front of the stairs; in front of the stunned Nohrians watching her shameful defeat. Realizing this, her face went beet red out of embarrassment and fury. She had never felt so humiliated in her entire life than in the past week: she had gotten into an intense argument with her pops and was beaten by him in a sumo match, then with her fate decided, she was sent to help patrol the frontlines and was treated like some piece of hot meat with the way the men kept ogling at her topless form, and then she got captured—oh the shame—and now _this_.

Utterly enraged to no end, Rinkah heaved herself up and blindly charged at the first Nohrian she saw; which unfortunately was defenceless Elise.

The young princess widened her eyes and shrieked at the bloodthirsty madwoman with murderous intent emitting from her flaming eyes. The young princess held up her arms in a futile attempt to protect herself.

"ELISE/PRINCESS ELISE!" Nearly everyone screamed in panic for the girl's safety. Xander was about to sprint to her side and cut down the Oni Savage without hesitation when a familiar grey blur beat him to it.

"Whoa there!" Elise gingerly peeked open her eyes, fully expecting the worst, but instead she quickly lowered her arms, gasping in surprise and awe. Corrin had snuck up behind Rinkah and grabbed her wrists with his hands, effectively preventing her from swinging the club down on Elise's pretty little head.

"Grr! Damn it! Let go of me!" Rinkah struggled against Corrin's grip as hard as she could, but Corrin refused to release her.

"Sorry, but no can do! I can't have you harass my little sister. Your opponent is me!" With that, the dragon prince sunk his teeth into one of Rinkah's beefy arms.

"OW!" Rinkah instantly dropped her club from the pain. She wrenched her arm free from Corrin's loosened grasp and stared dumbfoundedly at the clear imprints of a set of sharp teeth. She looked up at him with baffled disbelief. "You _BIT_ me?!" She glanced over at an astounded Kaze and exclaimed, "he BIT me!" She turned to the apprehensive Nohrians and pointed to her bitten arm, "he BIT me!"

Felicia, being the guileless Maid that she is, echoed, "he bit you…?"

"Yes! He freaking _BIT_ me!"

"You don't have to make a big deal out of it. It's the only way I can think of to disarm you." Corrin mumbled as he wiped his lips with his arm. The female warrior's skin tasted rather salty.

"Seriously?!" She held up her injured arm, still pointing at it offendedly as she seethed angrily at him. "Is this seriously the only way?!"

"That I thought of on the spot before you broke free? Yes. Also give me a break, I don't have a weapon, so how else am I gonna get you to release your club?" Corrin then stuck out his tongue in disgust. "Ugh, you taste like sweat and dirt. You should really take a bath after this."

At this point, Rinkah didn't know whether she should be mad at his impudence, laugh at the sheer idiocy of it all, or just give up on reasoning with him altogether. In the end, she growled, crouched to retrieve her throwing club, and then threw it at him without any warning.

"Ooof!" Corrin grunted in slight pain from the whack he got on his chest from her club. Before the throwing club could bounce back, he managed to clasp it between his hands before randomly tossing it high in the air behind him. By pure, extraordinarily coincidental chance, the club landed on Kaze's head. The poor Ninja literally didn't know what hit him before he found himself on his hands and knees sporting a killer headache.

Corrin finally went on the offensive. He dashed towards Rinkah in the blink of an eye, punched her in the gut, then grabbed her by one of her wrist and elbow, swiveled 180 degrees on the spot, and threw her over his shoulder. The tribalist had the breath knocked right out of her, eyes and mouth wide with shock and pain. She rolled over onto her stomach, coughing and retching out saliva.

Corrin, sure that the female warrior wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, turned to face Kaze only to stare dumbstruck at the green-haired man on his knees cradling his head, moaning and muttering incomprehensible words, clearly incapable of continuing the fight.

The albino prince blinked. The battle was over.

"Huh, I think that's it." He turned around to his family and gave them all a grin and a cheeky thumbs up. "Look! I did it!"

"Unbelievable…" Xander murmured speechlessly.

"Incredible…" Camilla mused adoringly.

"Impossible…" Leo stated flabbergastedly.

"Amazing!" Elise breathed breathlessly.

"Holy moly!" Felicia clapped her hands and hopped on the spot enthusiastically, ecstatic for Corrin's win. "Milord! Y-you're okay! Um, I mean, you _are_ okay, right? Does it hurt anywhere? I can help heal you!"

"Me too! Me too!" Elise exclaimed, jumping up and down in joy before skipping up to him to give him a big, grateful hug. "I can't thank you enough for saving me, big Brother! You're the _best_! Hee hee!"

"My my, Lord Corrin. I think I should ask _you_ for combat tips from now on. Maybe this rusty lance arm could learn a new thing or two from you." Gunter joked goodnaturedly, relieved to see his lord unharmed as well. Although he, along with everyone else, was still _very_ mentally taken aback by Corrin's newfound combat abilities.

"Naw, it was nothing, really." Corrin rubbed the back of his head, happily embarrassed by the praising looks he's getting. But of course, all good things must come to an end, and Corrin's happy moment came to an end in the form of—you guessed it—Garon's boisterous, insane laughter.

"BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Garon howled, hands smacking the sturdy armor shielding his abdomen. "GRAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"F-father…?" Xander voiced out quietly, looking a bit afraid. He wasn't the only one though. Everyone looked at the King with some form of fear in their eyes. Even Corrin was pretty disturbed.

After what seemed like forever, Garon finally calmed down enough to properly speak again. "Well done, my child. You certainly lived up to my expectations without any exceptions. Hah! You are ready to fight for Nohr! Hahahahahah! I am...very proud of you, my boy."

"Uh, thanks, f-father…" Oh God, just calling this bastard 'father' made his stomach twist into knots. The gleeful look that the Nohrian King gave Corrin made him somehow feel less proud of himself instead of what the statement was intended to do.

Honestly, Corrin has half a mind to provoke and encourage his 'father' to morph into the monster that he technically is so then he could prove to his Nohrian siblings right here and now that Garon was actually evil. If he does that, they could avoid the whole damn war, sign some peace and trade treaties with Hoshido, and everything would be peachy. Unfortunately, he can't do that because a) he doesn't have Yato. Or rather, _any_ sort of weapon on him to defend himself with should Garon try to kill him—which he definitely would. b) his Nohrian siblings are as done for as he would be. Since Corrin is someone who has personal experience dealing with draconic rage, Corrin has no doubt in mind that Garon would fuck all rules and start attacking anyone and anything that moves or breathes; which unfortunately includes his own children. Corrin does not want that. He's already decided back at the Northern Fortress that this time, he's saving them all—Nohrians, Hoshidans, the Ice Tribe, Lilith—whether they want his saving or not. And finally, c) he'd miss out on all the fun adventures that he gets to relive with his Hoshidan family again when they invaded the hell out of Nohr.

Corrin found it ironic that for a kingdom that specializes in invading other kingdoms, Nohr was surprisingly invadable.

After commanding the guards to round up the defeated prisoners, Garon regally demanded Corrin to finish them all.

Corrin grimaced. He wanted to say 'hell no, man!' but Leo decided to cut in before he could say anything.

"Father, if I may so boldly ask, how exactly is Corrin going to finish off the prisoners? He still has no weapon." When Garon's gaze became unfocused as he pondered on the simple question, Leo took this chance to shoot him a quick reassuring look, as if to tell Corrin 'don't worry, I'll make sure you get spared the gruesome fate of slaying those innocent prisoners because I know you'd hate that'.

Sometimes, Corrin forgets just how much he loves his little brother.

"Very well." Garon seemed to have reached a conclusion. "I shall exterminate them myself."

"W-what?!" Corrin felt momentarily panic seize his heart. Before he could pull himself together, Garon had already uttered the powerful incantation and summoned deadly fireballs at the defeated Hoshidans.

Screams of pain sounded out as the Hoshidans were being melted and burned alive. An arm from one of the Samurai's—from Hatake's, Corrin recognizes—reached out imploringly for the endless agony to stop, and a second later it did as the arm suddenly went limp. Once the magical fires were satisfied with their meals, they dispersed into thin air and left behind huge lumps of deformed coal that used to be living people in a charred, smoky pile.

Corrin swore that something inside him died and exploded simultaneously. For the first time since he got here, his calmness faded away and rage finally filtered in. He outright death glared at the son of a bitch that is Garon. "What the hell did you do that for, you shitty-assed motherfucker?! They were down, you titless-bitch motherfucker! They were defeated, you fuckin' motherfucker! Can you not see that, you blind, don't-know-what-the-fuck-peace-is motherfucker!?"

"Mother-what?" The King growled deeply in response. He wasn't exactly sure what 'motherfucker' meant, but he had a hunch that it wasn't something good. "I will deal with your ridiculous vocabulary later. Let me finish off the other two."

He stretched out his arm towards a very frightened Kaze, but just before the fireballs could hit, Corrin leaped in front of the Ninja fearlessly to protect him, shocking everyone by his reckless action.

"Hell to the damn to the NO, motherfucker!" Corrin shouted defiantly, shaking off the magical burns. He may have good defense, but his magical resistance could use some more work.

"Fool! You dare directly oppose me?!" Garon bellowed out furiously, his fists shaking in vexation.

"Damn right I will, you bitchy, don't-know-what-the- _flying-fuck_ -a-peace-treaty-is motherfucker!" Corrin replied just as furiously, flipping him a birdie for good measure.

"THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR INSOLENCE!" The old king spat at him, somehow feeling insulted by the way Corrin was showing off his middle finger despite not knowing what it meant. "Xander! Kill your brother! NOW!"

"WHAT?!" The Crown Prince of Nohr exclaimed in shock. He swiveled his head between the father that raised him and the brother that he practically raised himself, completely horrified of choosing just one of the two. Paralyzed with indecision, Xander faced Garon to beg him for mercy. "Please, father! Calm yourself and rethink this through! You just said Corrin is ready to fight for Nohr, and—"

"Xander," Garon spoke gently—which managed to terrify Xander like he's never been terrified before—as a vein visibly bulged from the side of his grey neck. "Are you defying me as well?"

"N-n-no, father." Xander couldn't help but find himself quaking in his dark armored boots. "I'll...I'll k-k-kill C-Corrin…" He then slowly and awkwardly moved step-by-foreboding-step towards the bottom of the stairs where Corrin was watching him with something akin to pity and amusement. The rest of his petrified siblings shot him desperate looks as if to tell him 'No! Don't do this, Xander!' and the crowned prince found himself experiencing one of those rare moments in which he wished he had never been born the oldest. By the time he was face to face with his little brother, his feet felt like they were made of lead, and his gut was screaming at him to stop this madness.

"Corrin…" Xander looked uncertainly at the young albino. "I'm sorry…"

Corrin cracked a playful smile at him, making it seem as if he wasn't about to be slayed by the hands of his older brother. "Don't be, Xander. I understand that you're only following orders. But!" He held up a wagging finger, mockingly scolding him. "If you think I'm going down without a fight, then you're severely wrong."

Xander furrowed his eyebrows. "How? You don't have a weapon to fight back with. And I'm not allowed to go easy on you."

"You'll see. Don't worry about it." Corrin then glanced over at Felicia and called out to her. "Hey Felicia! Can I have the bread now?!"

"Huh?!" Felicia, as well as everyone else, was startled by his sudden request. "Wh-what?"

"Bread please." Corrin repeated, holding out a hand that intended to catch it while staring at her patiently.

"YOU'RE HUNGRY NOW?!" Nearly everyone exclaimed in disbelief at the ludicrous turn the situation took. How did a solemn execution turn into a laughable moment in a split second? Nobody knows...

Corrin frowned, hand still outstretched. "For the record, I've been hungry since the start of the battle—but that's not the point. Bread please."

"O-oh! Right. Here you go." By some fortunate miracle, Felicia's nervous and slightly shaking hands actually managed to successfully toss the loaf straight at Corrin without missing his eagerly awaiting hand. The prince snatched up and unwrapped the bread, smiling at her in gratitude.

Xander stared at him in dumbfounded disbelief. "Really? You're going to eat? _Now_ of all times?" The Paladin muttered softly while the maddening king behind him looked like he's gonna throw Bölverk at any given time.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO EAT! THIS IS TREASON!"

"Who said I was eating this, old man?" With a mischievous smirk, he added, "just sit back and enjoy the show." And with that, he slipped into a fighting stance with the bread held in front of him like a sword.

Rinkah and Kaze couldn't believe the courage the white-haired boy possessed. Was he seriously going to go head-to-head against the rumored most powerful soldier of Nohr who wielded the legendary sword of darkness, Siegfried, with a single loaf of bread?

Was this guy suicidal, or just that crazy strong?

'Is he seriously planning on defeating Xander with _food_?' Camilla, Leo, and Elise all thought, worried and incredulous at the bizarre turn of events.

Xander was both perplexed at his brother's determined gaze and increasingly concerned for his brother's mentality. Putting on a stone-faced façade, Xander grunted at him to get ready before executing his first strike; a diagonal slash.

Corrin blocked effortlessly, astonishing everyone watching the duel by how solid the bread parried the attack. He forcibly pushes Xander back a step before kicking him in the stomach like Ryoma, and then striking the Paladin on the head when he was recovering from the unexpected attack to his diaphragm.

"Ow." Xander winced, a flash of stars obscured his vision for a fraction of a second before disappearing to whence it came. It didn't hurt as much as actual steel, but the hardened bread still hurt nonetheless.

Corrin smirked. "First blow."

Xander growled at the teasing look the dragon prince gave him and did a powerful horizontal slash aimed at Corrin's waist. His attack met empty air as Corrin lept back with the speed he had shown back on the training roof at the Northern Fortress.

Xander now realizes firsthand just how strong Corrin has become.

Out of nowhere, Corrin came at him with the wrath of a machine gun, whacking and hitting every inch of Xander's body wherever he saw an opening. It didn't help that Siegfried was much, much heavier than a loaf of bread, so Xander couldn't possibly dream of matching Corrin on par with his mach speed blows. All he could do was block. Even when Xander gets a chance to strike, Corrin either blocks it with strength that matches his own, or evades his attack like the quick-witted jackal that he is.

Corrin no longer stood before them as the inexperienced boy who swung timidly, but instead a warrior prince who fights with dignity. He attacks with absolutely no mercy. Xander almost felt even more proud of him than he was before if not for the frustration that was building up within him at how powerless he was against the albino prince's endless stabs and whacks. Not to mention the fact that he was losing against a loaf of bread.

Siegfried, the legendary blade of Nohr, losing to a loaf of friggin' bread. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry at that hilarious and shameful notion.

At one point of the battle, Xander decided he's had enough and risks a rash move to slam his shoulder at Corrin in hopes of catching him off guard. Corrin, actually having more skill over reflex, could not dodge the armored shoulder in time and soon found himself cussing while pinching a bleeding nose.

"Dammnm nghit, Xander! Dat hurtz! Doh yoh zee _mi_ making _yoh_ bleed?!" (Translation: "Damn it, Xander! That hurts! Do you see _me_ making _you_ bleed?")

"I don't understand you, Corrin." Xander replied coolly, readying Siegfried for another strike. "Try again."

Corrin's pupils slightly thinned to slits as he grit his teeth at him in annoyance. He growled gutturally—probably because blood was dripping down his throat—before coming at Xander with the loaf of bread. Using all his might, Corrin swung the bread at a very precise upward angle right around Xander's hand and Siegfried's base.

RIIIIIP!

SWISH!

THUNK!

Siegfried flipped through the air towards the unmoving audience entranced by the fight, nearly impaling itself into Garon's head. The Nohrian King froze in place, the emotions he hadn't felt in years coursed through him: dread, adrenaline, and fear.

Silence dominated the room, the seconds ticking by with no one having the will to break it. Xander stared at his empty hands as if seeing them for the first time in his life. Camilla, Leo, and Elise stared at Siegfried, the sword that almost went through their father's skull. Felicia and Gunter stared at Corrin, awestruck and anticipating his next move. Rinkah and Kaze stared at Corrin as well, but in a new light of respect—and in Kaze's case, devotion. And Corrin, with his wild bangs hiding his crimson eyes, was still in the same position as when he swung, but with the only difference being that the loaf of stale bread in his hands had ripped in two due to the force he used to disarm Xander.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Garon spoke again. "Hmph. Fine. If you are so adamant on protecting these worthless Hoshidan scum, then so be it." He turned around, acting very calm for someone who almost died via a flying Siegfried. "However, do not think you will go unpunished, foolish boy." Garon then takes his leave.

Just like that, Corrin had survived Garon's wrath, twice.

The albino prince blinked, taken aback. For a moment there, he honestly thought that Garon would turn red in the face and come down here to kill him and Xander both for disobeying him, but no, Garon just walks off without even one fuss.

'Maybe he's going to massacre a village or something.' Corrin thought. 'No, make that _two_ villages.'

Once the King was gone, Corrin could see everyone let out a visible sigh of relief. Much to his amusement, some of them even wobbled and dropped to their knees due to the overbearing tension they had to endure for an hour—Xander being one of them.

"Oh thank the gods it's finally over." The crowned prince stated with such relief that you'd think he was the one who was ordered dead. "I wasn't sure if I could hold my composure any longer."

Corrin couldn't help himself from snickering. He sucked in the blood dripping from his nose, cleared his throat and said, "welp, that was amusing."

Xander looks at him with a mixed expression that was deadpanned, tired, and very traumatized. "You are definitely insane, little prince."

"I AM NOT." The corners of Corrin's lips instantly turned downwards from a smile to a scowl. He sniffed again. "I'm as sane as the next person. I swear."

"Sure you are." Leo mumbled sarcastically off on the side.

Xander, who either didn't hear or chose to ignore Leo's comment, returns onto his feet and gestures frantically around him. "Then what in the name of the divine Dusk was _that_?!"

"Was what?" Corrin tilts his head cluelessly.

"You fighting weaponless, yet managing to win without a single scratch! You defeating me with _bread_?! And purposely infuriating father like that? Are you out of your mind?! I nearly had a heart attack watching that entire disaster you find 'amusing'!"

Corrin laughed, continuously sniffling in stray droplets of blood. "Aw big Brother, you need to relax once in awhile!"

Xander sighed, a hand reaching up to rub the space in between his sweaty brows. "How can I when one of my siblings is evidently suicidal?"

The dragon prince grinned so big it made his eyes seem like they were squinting. He discarded the ruined bread and came up to the eldest prince to pat him heartily on the back. "That makes two of us!"

Xander wasn't sure what that last statement meant, but he lets it slide in favor of Elise barging up to them and offering to heal their injuries. He reassured her that nothing of his was injured except his bruised pride, and gently redirected her good intentions to Corrin's bleeding nose.

"You sure have gotten strong, Brother." Leo stated as he and Camilla joined up with the rest of their siblings. "I can't believe you went up against Xander and Siegfried with a loaf of bread. I'm surprised Siegfried didn't cut right through."

"Well, Siegfried is designed for stabbing rather than cutting." Xander explained, pausing momentarily to thank Camilla for retrieving his beloved sword. "And blocking. Mostly."

'Which is why I chose bread. Sure a wine bottle would be more suitable to act as a makeshift sword, but since it's made of glass it'll probably break with one hard whack by Siegfried.' Corrin thought as he patted Elise on the head with a grateful smile. The Troubadour giggled before turning to the two prisoners, surprising them with her generous offer of healing them. 'Bread, when stale, is ridiculously hard to cut even with a katana. Probably the only thing that _can_ cut through it is the serrated blade of a killing edge.'

"Oh, Corrin! My sweet little Corrin! Are you okay?! The moment I saw blood leaking from your pretty face I almost disobeyed father and rushed down to your side if it weren't for Leo holding me back!" Camilla sighed dramatically, a hand draped charmingly over a plump breast. She gazes at Corrin's nose intensely, noting how it was crusted with dried blood. "Does it hurt? Would you like me to kiss it better? Or would you like me to exact revenge on Xander and give him a bloody nose as well?"

Said prince held his hands up, looking a bit hurt at Camilla's low-key threat. "What did I ever do to deserve this? _I_ was the one who was being beaten and humiliated out of my wits by a loaf of bread! _Corrin_ should be the one who deserves retribution!"

"Oh don't you dare even suggest the very idea of me harming our dear brother!" She countered back, bristling at Xander as she wrapped her arms around Corrin protectively. "I would never wish to hurt him!"

Corrin wanted to laugh. Oh the sheer irony of it all. If only he could tell her how wrong she was. If only he could tell them all how wrong they were.

"But big Brother Corrin sure is tough, huh? He actually disarmed Xander! Not even Camilla can disarm him!" Elise exclaimed, her animated face lighting up with admiration and delight as she fist bumped the air. "Woo-hoo! Way to go, Corrin! I think you even managed to impress father!"

"Although whether or not that is a good thing or a bad thing is debatable." Xander grumbled broodingly, running an armored hand through his golden locks.

"I'm sure it's fine. Corrin is strong now, he can handle whatever father throws at him. I mean, just look at what he accomplished today!" Camilla ruffled Corrin's hair soothingly, smiling happily and contently. Corrin mumbled something about not being a baby anymore before succumbing to Camilla's affections with a blush and a pout.

"Still, facing Xander with nothing but a loaf of bread? I want to call you foolish rather than brave." Leo huffed, eyes drifting off to the side.

"Hey." The Nohrians and Corrin turned to the voice that suddenly called out for their attention. It was Rinkah, who had an oddly curious, yet hostile stare directed solely at Corrin. "What are you planning to do with us? You saved us, but why?"

Corrin broke out of Camilla's hug and grinned. "I would tell you, but right now, I'm pooped!"

Rinkah gave him a deadpanned look. "You're…'pooped'..."

"Yeah. It just means I'm tired. I need to go refresh myself, so come with me to my room and I'll explain your new circumstances." He looked for the nearest guard and pointed, "hey you!"

The soldier visibly jumped at suddenly being addressed. He turned to the young prince and saluted. "Yes, sire?"

"Bring me the rest of the prisoners' belongings. They belong to me now." Corrin feels bad for declaring his two precious allies his property, but he has to keep up the act of pretending they aren't his friends until he gets to the Bottomless Canyon. It's true that Corrin is much stronger than the first time around, but Garon is still the King and can do whatever he wants. As much as he would _love_ fighting the Nohrian army weaponless, he'd rather not be half-dead when he sees his mother again.

He smiled and waved at his Nohrian family. "See you guys later. I'm gonna go get some rest now."

Xander nodded, giving him his usual small frown. "Alright then. See you at a better time, little prince."

"Bye bye, darling! I'll be seeing you soon." Camilla crooned while Elise waved back excitedly.

"May your devil's luck stick with you awhile longer, Brother." Leo added in, lips curving into a knowing smile.

And with that, Corrin and his retainers, along with the Hoshidans in tow, walked off.

…

There was a tense sort of quietness that settled amongst the group. Corrin emotionlessly sat cross-legged on the bed of his ordinary room, slouching and relaxed. Gunter stood by the door as rigid as a statue. Felicia stood by Gunter, nervously fiddling around with her staff because she wasn't sure what to do in this kind of situation. Kaze stood against a shadowed corner, trying to be as inconspicuous as he can. Rinkah stood in the middle of the room, back straight and fiery eyes aimed right at Corrin.

"So?" The tribalist, having enough of the silence, barked out. "What are we now? Still Nohr's prisoners? Or specifically, _your_ prisoners?"

" _My_ 'prisoners'?" Corrin echoed mockingly, furrowing his eyebrows together and frowning deeply as if he'd been insulted. He crossed his arms and scoffed. "Oh please. What kinda person do you take me for? That heartless grey ape who raises his kids to be kinslayers?"

Rinkah's jaw dropped—actually, everyone's jaw dropped—at the rude and shameless comment made about the fearsome King of Nohr. A second later her lips started twitching upwards uncontrollably and laughter erupted forth from her mouth. "AHHAHAHAHAH!" She smacked her thigh repetitively, struggling to calm down enough to speak. "You know what? I like you, Nohrian! I praise your bold bravery, and the guts you have rival those of the Flame Tribe's!"

"Lord Corrin," Gunter began gravely, "I sincerely hope King Garon never catches word of you slighting him so severely. I fear the outcomes would not be pretty."

"I know. That's why I'm not gonna stick around here much longer."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Gunter asked, alarmed. His lord was getting crazier and crazier by the minute.

Corrin leveled a serious look at him. "A little later on, King Garon will send us to the Bottomless Canyon for a mission. The mission is to check a supposedly 'abandoned' fort to see if it is still serviceable or not. Spoiler alert, it isn't. Hoshidans are occupying the fort, and we will be forced to engage in combat by an impertinent lout who was ordered to tag along with us. Later, that lout will return and knock you down the canyon Gunter—yes, I'm not joking." He interrupted Gunter, who had his mouth open as if about to protest. "Then I will be flung down the canyon after you by that cursed sword Garon tried to give me earlier, and since I didn't accept the sword, I think I'll be fine on that regard."

Silence overwhelmed the group again, all of them unsure what to make of the albino prince's claims. Corrin just sighed resignedly and propped up his chin on one of his palms. "Look, I don't expect you to believe me right away, but I'm saying this not because I'm going bonkers. This really will happen, and then you'll see if I was right or not."

"It will?" Felicia wondered cluelessly.

"'Bonkers'?" Rinkah questioned bewilderedly.

"Yes. And 'bonkers' just means crazy."

Kaze, who kept to himself in his little corner during the whole conversation, finally spoke up. "Um, Prince Corrin, if I may ask, how do you know all this?"

All eyes turned to said prince, their gazes asking the same thing.

Corrin was about to reply before his mind flashed back to when he told his Nohrian siblings the truth, and then to the following unfortunate consequence that he was still suffering through. The looks of worry and unnecessary pity were really beginning to grind at his patience, and he honestly did not need more sets of eyes looking at him as if he was an escaped mental patient.

He smiled mysteriously instead. "You know what? I'd rather not say. Maybe I'll tell you guys later when we get to the Bottomless Canyon."

It was a good thing that Corrin didn't tell them, too.

Outside the room's door, a certain crafty Sorcerer cursed at the prince for stopping right there and refusing to speak more. A devious smirk crosses his half-masked face as he strides away from the door as sneakily as when he first began his eavesdropping.

'Hmmm, I see. The little lordling knows of our plan, eh? King Garon told me to watch out for the kid because he'd gotten way too powerful for his Highness's liking, but who would've thought the boy was also this unnaturally informed about events that hadn't happened yet? I do wonder what methods he used to acquire top-secret information about the mission, but things have definitely gotten interesting. I must tell King Garon.'


	4. Journey Begins with a Sennen Goroshi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Omozu is alive, Gunter is severely wounded but still fortunately alive, Felicia and a nameless Samurai have a moment, and Hans loses his virginity.
> 
> Lilith watches from the distance, amused and can't stop laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of me copying & pasting the chapters from my account on FanFiction.net. From here on out, the next following chapters will be posted as I finish writing and proofreading them. They will be un-betaed and hot off the press, but I will try to make them as error free as possible.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

_Emphasis_

LOUD NOISES

'Quoting'

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Journey Begins with a Thousand Years Of Death!**

* * *

...

Corrin was literally dragged by Elise to the throne room door.

"Elise, I told you, I don't want to apologise to father!" Corrin groaned, heels digging deep into the carpeted flooring in an attempt to futilely deter the trip of visiting the ancient fart that is Garon. He glanced behind him helplessly at Kaze and Rinkah, mouthing a silent 'help me!'.

Kaze looked very uncertain as to how to help his newly rediscovered liege, and Rinkah merely laughed at his misery. It was decided back at Corrin's temporary room that they will be following the white-haired prince everywhere to keep up appearances of being Corrin's prisoners so there wouldn't be any trouble. It was already dangerous enough for the two Hoshidans to be here in the heart of Nohr, so if they were to be left alone and unaccompanied, violent discrimination is bound to ensue upon them.

Gunter and Felicia seemed uneasy at the idea of Hoshidan warriors tailing their lord everywhere he goes, but Corrin reassured them that it was okay. For some strange reason, their lord believes that Kaze and Rinkah are trustworthy. For some even stranger reason, Gunter and Felicia believes him.

"But. You. Have. To!" The petite blonde huffed and puffed with each word as she huffed and puffed with all her might to get Corrin to the door. Geez, not only did her big brother get stronger, he got more tactless too. And stubborn! "I'm...trying...to get...you..on...frien...friendly terms! With father!" By now the youngest princess had resorted to pushing Corrin from behind instead. "So moooooove!"

Corrin could try and physically ingrain himself to the carpet all he wants, but it was clear that Elise wasn't going to give up anytime soon. The Manakete sighed in defeat. Elise just does not take 'no' for an answer, does she? He reached behind and patted the mop of blonde hair affectionately. "Okay okay, stop pushing, I'll come willingly. Let's just get this over with…"

"Really? Yay!" The princess's eyes sparkled happily with delight and relief. She could finally stop her backbreaking hard work of getting Corrin to the door. The princess skipped alongside Corrin, humming a lighthearted tune.

Corrin would find her joyous reaction cute on any normal day, but today in particular was by far a normal day. After all, it's not everyday that you get sent to the border to get _flung down a canyon_ , discover an _alternate abandoned world_ , get _clubbed_ on the head, knocked unconscious, and _kidnapped_ to the 'enemy' kingdom to meet your mother that you thought you _never had_ only to have her die the moment you realized that she _was,_ in fact, your beloved mother. Last but not least comes the slightly painful transformation into a _rampaging dragon_ boiling in pure draconic rage, prancing around with the horned vengeance of a thousand vicious unicorns while taking out _invisible_ enemies left and right.

What the heck is _normal_ about all that?

'Hah, yeah no, today is definitely not a normal day.' Corrin thought to himself with a deadpanned expression, closing his eyes and slowly shaking his head a little.

Once they've arrived, Elise knocked on the door politely before stepping back. With her hands clasped neatly behind her back, she called out. "Father! It's us! Corrin's here to apologize about the earlier—"

Exactly on cue, Garon's psychotic laugh rang out to assault their eardrums. Elise, Kaze, and Rinkah flinched while Corrin looked like he really didn't want to be here right now.

'Welp, it's time to act subservient again…'

…

"He is damn scary." Rinkah commented, stretching her arms out absentmindedly. "How do you deal with him everyday?"

"That's the thing. I don't." Corrin replied, looking up at the odd statue glued to the ceiling. He cocked his head to the side, having never noticed the decor before. "I was locked up in a fortress for most of my life after he kidnapped me back at Cheve—"

Kaze glanced away guiltily.

"—so thank God I don't have to see his butt-ugly face every single day."

Rinkah snickered. "Hah! I do so love your insults, especially since they're about King Garon."

"Thanks I guess." Corrin muttered distractedly. He tilted his head the other way and squinted. The statue on the ceiling looked like a masked...uhh, human? Is it a druid? Or is it like a naga...dragon...thing...with antlers and roots? Why the hell does Garon even have that thing up there in the first place?

Currently, they were waiting for Corrin's Nohrian family to arrive. They've just finished their meeting with King Garon; during which Corrin had painfully forced himself to bow down to Garon and apologize—which pretty much killed him inside—while refraining himself from further insulting the Nohrian King. Why? Well, it's _partly_ because Elise was giving him the most adorable glare that practically screamed 'DO IT!', but it's _mostly_ because she kept side-kicking him in the shin and stomping on his bare toes whenever Garon was lost in his own thoughts.

It hurt, by the way. It _reeeally_ hurt. Who knew the small Troubadour could be so 'persuasive'. Wasn't she supposed to be better at healing pain than inflicting it?

Garon was, undeniably, apprehensive the whole time, but in the end he eventually accepted Corrin's submissiveness and issued him the same mission to the Bottomless Canyon, much to Kaze and Rinkah's surprise. Then Garon dismissed himself, and now they're alone.

Elise had skipped off to find the rest of their Nohrian siblings to tell them the news, relieved that Corrin didn't get into more trouble with their father; which brings us back to now: Corrin with his head arched back staring up at the ceiling, Rinkah looking bored and doing stretches, and Kaze being his usual quiet, secretive self.

As Corrin continued to stare, a strange twitch stirred within his mind.

'Anankos…' Something in the back of his head whispered sinisterly.

Corrin blinked. 'Ana-who?'

The deadly knowledge stuffed deeply beneath the prince's conscious answered again. 'That's Anankos, he's a dragon that Garon worships…'

Corrin cocked his head and blinked again. 'Garon worships a ceiling dragon?'

'NO YOU IDIOT!' Corrin felt like his subconscious had punched his brain. 'Good grief, do I need to spell everything out for you?! Think about it. Garon is the King of Nohr, a kingdom closely associated with the dusk dragon, so why would he be worshiping another dragon deity other than the dusk dragon? Don't you find that particularly strange?'

'Umm…' Corrin pursed his lips and thought about it for a moment. 'Maybe…he got bored worshipping the dusk dragon and decided to switch religions? Like from Buddhism to Christianity, or Jewish to Islamic, or something like that?'

SMACK!

There was an audible facepalm reverberating inside Corrin's mind as the voice of reason groaned at his stupidity.

'You know what, forget it. You'll understand it later anyway. Just know that whatever you do, DO NOT say the name 'Anankos' out loud or else your ass and my ass will vanish from this world, got it?'

Corrin raised a skeptical brow. 'Consciences have asses?'

'THIS ONE DOES YOU MORON!'

Before his conscience could scream in frustration, Corrin was snapped out of his thoughts when Rinkah cleared her throat loudly in order to get their attention. She looked from Kaze to Corrin, snorting in annoyance at how both men were ignoring and choosing not to bring up the elephant in the room. "Okay, since no one is going to say it, _I_ will."

Kaze looked over, showing that he was listening, while Corrin hummed a 'hm?' as he continued to observe the statue above.

"So, Corrin, what you said was true. You _are_ going to be sent to the Bottomless Canyon after all."

"Yep. That's what I was telling you guys before."

"Okay then, so _how_ did you know this before King Garon even told you?" The tribalist lifted an eyebrow questioningly, arms crossed and waiting somewhat patiently for Corrin's answer.

"I also told you before. I'll tell you once we get to the Bottomless Canyon." Corrin rubbed his chin as he squinted harder at the statue. "Hey, is it me, or does that statue look like a topless woman with giant claws and tree trunks for legs?"

"What?" At this, both Rinkah and Kaze looked up at the weird statue. "Huh...yeah I see it." She shook her head abruptly and stared him down seriously. "Argh! No! Okay, back to to topic at hand, why not? Why won't you tell us?"

"Because I can't." Was the simple reply as the white-haired prince continued to stare at the statue in some form of dazed trance.

Rinkah could feel a vein popping up on her forehead in irritation. "And why is that? Why can't you—would you stop staring at that thing?!" The female warrior's temper snapped at the ignorance the dragon prince displayed. "It's a freaky and odd looking statue on the ceiling! Get over it!"

Corrin hummed unconcernedly, eyes still stuck on the idol. "It's because there's someone else here with us in this room."

This instantly got the two Hoshidans defensive. Kaze closed his eyes before quickly reopening them and pointing at a certain shadowy spot in the corner of the room. "You! Show yourself!"

Silence met the Ninja's demand. Slowly, as if emerging from the depths of an abyss, a masked man with long, greasy black hair stepped out gingerly, an unamused scowl aimed at the Nohrian Prince. "How fascinating. Very well done noticing me, Prince Corrin. Not everyone could perceive my presence so easily."

"What the—how long have you been there?!" Rinkah cracked her neck and knuckles, looking ready to pounce at any moment. Although the Oni Savage didn't have her weapon, she was still well capable of inflicting physical damage if she wanted to.

"Goodness, such hostility!" The Sorcerer sneered at the two Hoshidans. "Prince Corrin, I think you should consider putting a leash on your prisoners. After all, it wouldn't be suitable for these mutts to run around and accidentally bite someone, now would it?"

Rinkah growled at the insult while Kaze narrowed his eyes to level a glare at the mage.

"Uh huh." Corrin replied boredly, eyes still on the ceiling. "So you're saying that if someone eavesdropped on one of _your_ private conversations, _you_ wouldn't respond with hostility?"

This caught Iago slightly off guard. He cleared his throat, flustered for a moment as he tried formulating his response. "Well, I, it—it obviously depends on the situation, Lord Corrin."

"Why yes, it _certainly_ does." Corrin rolled his eyes sarcastically before asking despite already knowing the answer, "hey, what is that statue up there supposed to represent anyway, Iago?"

The Sorcerer looked up at the ceiling decoration as well, and decided to humor the prince with an answer. "Hmm, you know, I'm not quite sure myself. King Garon rather likes it though, so I never questioned it."

"Oh, does he?" Corrin humored the Sorcerer back with idle chatter. "I think I'll ask him about it some time then."

Kaze and Rinkah looked between the two, sensing the unspoken tension and wisely deciding to stay quiet. So this is Nohr: a kingdom of dusk, where the sunlight never touches, plenty tales of glory and conquest, and its shady Nohrian courts filled with alternative meanings written in envious, calculating eyes, and hidden motives under more hidden lies. Not at all like Hoshido where everything was bright and open and colorful and liberating; where people could freely speak their minds without fear of malevolent intents. So far of what Kaze and Rinkah had seen, most of Nohr's residents stay true to most of Hoshido's prejudice against Nohrians. The keywords being ' _most_ '. The youngest Princess of Nohr was the biggest exception anyone could've ever imagined. Gods, she was even happier and sunnier than the average Hoshidan child despite hailing from a dreary place like Nohr. How the girl became a little ball of sunshine while growing up in this cold world of darkness was beyond any of them.

Speaking of which, here she comes now with the rest of the Nohiran royals behind her.

"Big Brother! I'm baaaaaack! And I brought everyone—" She gasped and skidded to a halt immediately when she saw Iago. "Ah! It's Iago!"

"Yes. It's me." The mage repeated condescendingly. He crossed his arms and faced the young girl with a scolding smirk. "Princess Elise, is that how you greet everyone nowadays? 'Ah, it's you'? I thought my decorum lessons had taught you better."

"Umm, I'm sorry." She shrugged sheepishly, glancing away as she toed the ground nervously. "I wasn't expecting you to be here Iago. It surprised me."

"Oh you wound me, milady." Iago stated dramatically, smugly sneering at Elise. "Of course I would be here. This is the throne room, where I am usually needed the most. I am your father's most trusted advisor, after all."

"Well then, would you mind explaining why you are here, Iago?" The deep voice of Leo cut in, appearing beside Elise ready to defend her. The Troubadour instantly puffed her chest out with a cheeky smile, confident that Leo would help her defeat Iago in this battle of words. "As father's top advisor, are you not supposed to aid him at all times? As far as I can see, father is not currently here. What purpose must you have lingering around an empty throne room rather than with father?"

Leo and Elise were expecting Iago to sputter and glare, not smile and chuckle. The devious look he sent the two heirs told them he knew something that they didn't. Xander and Camilla had joined up with them by now, warily tensing beneath their armor at Iago's impish expression.

"Ah, that's where you're wrong, Lord Leo. King Garon is actually present with me in this room."

Literally out of nowhere, said king casually walked out from another shady corner of the room, effectively startling the Nohrian royalties and the Hoshidan prisoners. Corrin gave one bored look of acknowledgement before returning his gaze back up at the statue. If King Garon was offended by the albino's nonchalance, he hid it amazingly well. No one—including Garon—wanted a repeat of the day's earlier downright confusing events where none of them knew what was happening. The shock of today's phenomenons—and the fact that the King of Nohr had almost been slain by Siegfried, which at one point Garon himself had wielded—hadn't worn off completely yet, so in other words, Garon might be just a teensy bit intimidated by Corrin to act like his usual jackass self.

"Hello, children." He gruffly addressed them, savoring the almost tangible waves of fear that his four loyal heirs emitted. It greatly annoyed and disturbed him how ridiculously strong Corrin had become as well as how he had completely grown out of his fear of him, so it comforted him to know that at least he can still terrorize his other children without a problem.

What a douchebag.

"Father! I apologize, we didn't see you there." Xander stated, bowing quickly to the Nohrian King. Having previously failed an order earlier when Garon demanded Corrin's death, he didn't want to push his luck further by not showing proper manners and obedience towards his father.

Corrin, while on the other hand, simply could not care less. He sighed as he half wondered about the statue and half reminisced about the last battle that took place here followed by Azura dissolving into nothingness.

'Azura...after all these years, I get to finally see you again...wait for me, please...I really miss you...please be there...'

"My my, King Garon. I don't think Lord Corrin is prepared to take on the vital mission you regally issued him. I mean, just look at that lovesick expression he's sporting."

"Hmph. Indeed."

Corrin abruptly snapped out of his trip down memory lane at Iago and Garon's taunting voices. He blinked his eyes rapidly, not noticing how blurry his vision got until now. Once he could see clearly again, he turned towards everyone in the room only to see shocked faces from his Nohrian siblings and Hoshidan allies, and belittling looks from Iago and Garon.

"Corrin…?" Camilla whispered gently, eyebrows furrowed with worry. Her hushed voice went unheard by Iago as he was too busy mocking the prince to notice.

"Oh? What's this? Is the kindhearted prince crying? Well, isn't that a first." He smirks at the trails of teardrops crawling steadily down Corrin's face in which he sees as the prince's foolish moment of weakness. "What ever is the matter, Lord Corrin? Have we somehow unintentionally upset your tender heart?"

'Crying?' Corrin touched his cheek in confusion, and much to his astonishment and embarrassed chagrin, he felt wetness seep through his gloved fingers. He must've been unconsciously tearing up when he was thinking about Azura again. A frown tugged at his lips, but he wasn't surprised. He always cries whenever he thinks of Azura.

"Idiot boy, there is nothing to be crying about." Garon growled roughly. "Wipe those tears away before I change my mind on sending you out for the mission."

Corrin furiously rubbed his face dry, getting rid of any sort of fluid. His flushed cheeks were the only evidence left that proved he was crying in the first place. Corrin bowed his head, not out of respect but because he didn't want them all to stare at his reddened face. "No, I'm fine. I can do the mission, father. It's the least I can do for being so disrespectful earlier." Corrin said through gritted teeth, putting on a false, polite meekness once more. No matter what, he must get to Hoshido: Yato is waiting for him, his Hoshidan siblings are waiting for him, his mother is waiting for him, and Azura is waiting for him.

Azura…

His heart aches whenever the beautiful blue-haired maiden entered his thoughts. Her exquisite golden eyes which are full of kindness, and a hint of mischief as well, flashed across the Manakete's mind whenever he recalled her enchanting figure. Her calm and graceful movements are like that of a noble stag, an elegant ruler of the forest—or in her case, the nearest pond within a mile radius. Her supernatural strength which made wielding thick pine branches look so ridiculously easy that even a toddler could do it. The tiny, shy curve of her lips whenever she smiles that pretty smile of hers…

And the bewitching melodies flowing from her captivating voice as she sings are like silky, gentle caresses to his ears. Her signature song never failed to calm him whenever he was on the brink of an emotional breakdown. Corrin has lost count how many dark, miserable nights during the war that he's had Azura come to his room to sing him to sleep, especially after witnessing heartbreaking deaths of his most cherished ones.

'I need to let her know. This time, I need to tell her my feelings. I don't want a repeat of last time where I was too young and naïve to confess before it was too late.' Corrin narrowed his eyes determinedly. 'No. This time, I'm not planning on making the same mistakes as last time. You _will_ come out of this war alive, Azura. This time, I'll make sure of it.'

"Father, I'm worried." Camilla spoke up hesitantly, her concern over Corrin momentarily outweighed her deeply rooted fear of Garon after seeing his unintentional tears. "Isn't it a bit soon to be sending him to the border so close to our enemies?"

"I am confident Corrin will succeed." Garon claimed with a deep scoff, instantly making the royal Nohrian siblings uneased by the proud tone in his voice. All of them knew by experience that whenever Garon is proud of them for something before a mission, hell is bound to ensue. "He has definitely proven his worth after today's exceptional proceedings. Or have you already forgotten, my daughter?"

"No father, I haven't." Camilla responded with a small frown. She glanced down timidly, understanding from Garon's dismissive gaze that the discussion was over.

"However," Garon continues, catching everyone's attention once more. "Although Corrin has grown strong, his inexperience on the battlefield may lead to a potential problem. Therefore, he will receive some help from a veteran. This one is excellent with an axe in his hands, use him however you see fit, boy." With that, the King shifted a step to the side to make room for the newcomer who _also_ literally came out of nowhere from the same shadowy corner Garon walked out of.

Kaze and Rinkah blinked a couple of times dumbfoundedly before simultaneously turning their heads to glance at each other with the same questioning look in their eyes, both feeling incredibly bemused.

'Where do these Nohrians keep coming from?'

They hesitantly leaned to the side and peered cautiously behind Garon's massive form at the dark corner he and Hans had morphed from.

'Is there a secret window there that we don't know about or something?'

Hans greeted Corrin with a simple nod and a curt "milord."

Xander narrowed his eyes at the brute. Casually, he walked over to Corrin and whispered into his ear. "Corrin, I'd be wary of him if I were you."

Corrin, who went back to staring up at the ceiling, replied with a quiet murmur. "Yeah, I know. I don't like the way he's eyeing me, big Brother."

"He used to be a criminal that I personally arrested years ago." Xander continued, eyeing Hans suspiciously out of the corner of his stern gaze. "Father thinks he's rehabilitated, but I'm not so sure…"

"That's because he's not." Corrin replied, finally turning away from the Anankos statue. "I'm sure you can see the bloodlust in his beady eyes, can't you? No doubt he's a veteran, but a battle-crazed, kill-first-ask-questions-later veteran at that. Father sure is generous…"

Xander frowned deeply at him. "Oh don't be like that—I've already got a little brother who's sarcastic enough, I don't need another." The crowned prince sighed quietly as he watched Garon and Iago take their leave. Elise had begun curiously poking around Hans, verbally and very soon literally, with Leo cautiously monitoring the situation and making sure Elise doesn't actually poke or harass the Berserker, and Camilla was busy listing off what to and what not to do to Hans about how to properly take care of her precious little Corrin. By now, Hans looked like he had swallowed something rotten, and honestly, Xander couldn't blame him. "I know that father may be giving you quite a lot of trials at this moment in time, but think of them as challenges that once you've conquered them, you'll become even stronger than before." Xander ended with a soft, encouraging smile. "Hang in there, I believe in you—we all believe in you, little prince."

Corrin nodded his thanks before rolling his eyes and huffing an amused laugh. "Big Brother, your loyalty to father and Nohr is unmistakably dogged. I swear, an act of obedience will make you feel severe regret and then get yourself killed one day."

The Paladin furrowed his brows, giving the dragon prince a thoroughly confused look. "Where on earth did you get that specifically horrific thought?"

The Nohrian Prince shrugged lightheartedly. "I kinda figured it out. Just like how you always tell me that an act of kindness will kill me one day, I figure the same will— _might_ —happen to you, not by kindness but by loyalty." Corrin cleared his throat hastily, hoping his slip of the tongue wasn't noticed by Xander.

"Huh...if you say so…" Xander muttered thoughtfully before fondly patting the smaller male's back. "Anyway, I wish you luck, Corrin."

"Thanks, Xander." The Manakete smiled before getting distracted by the statue above again. "Hey Xander, do you know why there is a half-naked woman pasted on the ceiling?"

"Hm?" The Paladin glanced up and blinked owlishly. " _Is_...that a woman..? I'm not sure what it is actually. Father worships it rather diligently, though."

"So he did switch religions!" With a hand cupping his chin, Corrin closed his eyes and nodded in understanding to himself. "It's sad how faith is so fickle these days. It's like the gods don't give a damn or try hard enough to keep their followers anymore. I wonder what Garon gets out of worshipping Ananko—" The albino suddenly cringed.

"Corrin? What's wrong?" Xander, ever attentive Xander, noticed his grimace from a kilometer away. He examined the other prince's face carefully, the bridge of his nose crinkled with concern. "You look nauseated. Did I bash you with my shoulder a tad too hard during our duel?"

"No, it's not that…" The dragon prince rubbed the side of his head gingerly, eyes shut tightly. "I think my conscience punched my brain again."

...

After a heartfelt goodbye from Camilla, a too tight hug from Elise, and a quick, awkward hug from Leo—which surprised everyone—Xander rode with them to the gates of Windmire before patting Corrin's back again and wishing him safe travels. The brooding, overly troubled look never left the crowned prince's face even as he retreated back to the castle.

They rode hard after that. Corrin sat in front of Gunter while Felicia sat in the same saddle as Gunter, clinging onto the man's back. Rinkah, having never ridden on a horse before, squeezed the living daylights out of Felicia more than a dozen times. Meanwhile, Kaze merely hooked his bladed forearm guards into the notches and crevices of the horse's armor, crouching neatly on the beast's galloping rear and trying to prevent a very tense Rinkah from crushing Felicia's ribcage. Hans rode on a different horse by himself.

In about a day and a half, Gunter's well-trained warhorse miraculously managed to carry its master and nearly everyone else across the entire kingdom in record time without any casualties, but the poor creature was left panting heavily in utter exhaustion as they slowly neared the canyon.

"Lord Corrin, we have arrived."Gunter announced, nudging the snoozing prince gently as he eased his horse to a stop. Said beast shook its head as it snorted loudly in gratitude, digging its hoof into the ground agitatedly as it searched the dirt for something to graze on.

"Hmm?" The albino jolted awake, immediately stretching his spine out and yawning like a cat. He hopped off the tired steed and glanced around enthusiastically. "Oh we're finally here? Great!" He turned back and raised a quizzical brow at Rinkah. Despite her feet finally touching solid ground once more, the flame tribalist still had her arms tightly locked around a pitiful and petrified Felicia, who was shooting him desperate, helpless looks. "Um, you can let go of my Maid now…"

Rinkah snapped out of her stupor, instantly releasing and setting Felicia down. She winced, absentmindedly nursing her sore hips. "Uh, sorry. I'm not used to my crotch bouncing up and down as I travel."

"Ohh it's alright. I'm just glad you finally let me go." The pinkette sighed shakily as she rubbed her jittery arms. "I thought I'd melt soon. Your skin is very hot for some reason."

"And your skin is really cold, Nohrian." Rinkah shot back, crossing her arms sassily. "I thought I was doing you a favor by warming you up."

"No no, I'm naturally like this." Felicia smiled good-naturedly, holding up her palm and producing a crystallized snowflake out of thin air. "I'm from the Ice Tribe, you see. It'd be more worrisome if I _wasn't_ cold to the touch."

"Is that so? The Ice Tribe, huh..." Rinkah mused to herself before giving her newfound fellow tribalist a friendly smirk. "Well I'm from the Flame Tribe, so my body temperature is naturally high. You know, you and I may not be so different."

"Eh? You think so?" Felicia tilted her head, expression neutral before splitting into a smile once more. "Then I hope we can become good friends!"

"Enough dilly-dallyin'." Hans grunted, riding up to them. He dismounted from his horse and nods briskly at Corrin. "We're here, yeah? Lead the way already, princeling."

"Ahem." Gunter took this moment to dismount himself and aimed a pointed glare at the Berserker. "I don't think it's your call to order Lord Corrin around."

"Hey, I'm just givin' him some advice, y'know?" Hans scrunched his nose at Gunter distastefully. "He needs me here to give him advice, yah? I'm just following King Garon's orders…"

Corrin places his hands on his hips, an impish look on his face. "Hah! I think you want me to hurry 'cause you wanna see some bloodshed soon, right?"

"Damn right I—erm, u-uh, I mean, uh no. We're here for that fort on the border checking thingy, aren't we?" Hans stammered, sweating profusely as his beady eyes began darting around nervously. 'Damn it! I slipped up! He asked that question on purpose, didn't he? I'll make this smug bastard pay!'

Kaze narrowed his eyes at the suspicious behaviour. 'Hmm. Prince Corrin told us before that some brute accompanying us will betray us and force us into an inevitable violent confrontation with the border guards. Is it him?'

Gunter and Rinkah caught on too. 'It's him. That's the one Corrin was talking about earlier.'

Only clueless Felicia missed Corrin's hint. She looked around bewilderedly, wondering why there was suddenly tension amongst the group.

As they neared the middle of the canyon, lightning and thunder became more and more frequent. At one particularly loud boom, Gunter's horse reared up and whinnied out of fear.

"Ugh, I don't like this place. It feels too unnatural here." Gunter grimaced, reaching up and stroking his horse's face to calm it down. "Thunder assaults the ears too much for my liking, and lightning will strike down any who flies over the canyon. It's unnerving."

"It does feel weird here." Corrin added, peering down at the endless darkness below. The rickety bridge swung lethargically with a low, pained groan as Corrin's party marched onwards. "I wonder how long it would take to reach the bottom of this canyon."

"It's called the Bottomless Canyon for a reason, Lord Corrin." The old knight replied, a hand firmly gripping the reins attached to his equine companion with the steed itself trotting along beside him. "I'd rather not find out."

"Don't worry, you won't. I promise." Corrin muttered the last part under his breath.

"Halt!"

The group froze at the shout belonging to a Samurai running up to them with his hand held up commandingly.

"Halt, Nohrians! You may not advance any further!" A commanding voice echoed from across the vast canyon, causing everyone to turn their attention to the aged ninja standing guard at the fort's entrance. "As our border treaty rights indicate, this is Hoshidan territory! Leave, now!"

Corrin faked genuine surprise, eyebrows furrowed in apology. "Ah, sorry! We're here only to survey this area. We weren't aware that the fort was already occupied."

The Samurai squinted at him, untrusting. "Does Nohr not respect territorial rights anymore? Despicable."

"Well guys, you heard him." Corrin declared dramatically, purposely loud enough for everyone—most importantly Hans—to hear. "It looks like the fort clearly isn't as abandoned as King Garon had thought. I don't want to cause anymore trouble, so let's head back and report the results. After all, we're not here to fight, and it wouldn't do to cause conflict with the Hoshidans over nothing."

"Oh no ya don't. We ain't leavin', princeling."

Corrin mentally smirked at how the Berserker had went for his taunt and waddled straight into his trap. 'Finally! Now I have an excuse to kick his ass!'

"Oh? Hans, what do you mean?" The albino asked with fake curiosity, his mental smirk slowly manifesting onto his features. His hand casually moved to rest on the hilt of the iron sword that Xander gifted him before they departed. "We need to retreat. The fort's condition is assessed as part of Hoshido's territory, so the mission is complete. It's time to go home."

"Bah! You spineless fool! I didn't come all this way only to run back with my tail between my legs. Hurrah!" With a battle cry, Hans descended upon the startled Samurai. Before the axe could connect with flesh or the frightened Samurai could regain his senses to defend himself, a sharp 'CLANG!' rang out, bouncing off the walls of the chasm and mingling with the booming thunder.

"Wha..?" Hans slack-jawed stare made Corrin snicker. His big-ass axe was blocked solidly by the iron sword Corrin held calmly above his head. The Berserker shared a brief look of utter bafflement with the equally shocked Samurai he was just about to slay before snapping out of it and backing away from the two.

"What's wrong, Hanny?" Corrin heaved the sword onto his shoulder, tapping the broad side of it against his shoulder bone experimentally. He grinned mischievously, almost savagely even. "Was that a slip of the hand, or were you trying to murder this young fellow here? I thought I told everyone not to engage in combat with the Hoshidans." He tilted his head inquiringly. "Doesn't your disobedience consider as treason?"

"Bah!" Hans spat to the side, growling ferociously like a wild beast. Despite his bravado, the barbarian could feel sweat slide down his neck. Damn, he wasn't expecting the princeling to be strong enough to block his hit. "You think a little trick like that will save that scum? Why're you even protecting a Hoshidan anyhow, brat?"

"Y-y-yes, w-why _are_ you protecting me?" The distressed Samurai stuttered out, understandably looking both scared and confused.

"If I didn't protect him, he'd be a mere stain on this bridge by now." Corrin gave Hans a hard stare, smile suddenly gone. After all these years, Corrin had managed to keep his desire of avoiding as much death as possible despite everything that had happened to him. It's cheesy how he still sees every life being more precious than the shiniest ore, but hey, at least he's got his values. "You think I'll let you do whatever you want? You think I'll let you intentionally create a bloody, unnecessary battle just to satisfy your sick, twisted urges for destruction? You think I'll let you ruthlessly take an innocent life. Just. Like. THAT?!" Corrin exploded, his eyes flaring up in rage. He could feel the slumbering dragon within stir as his fangs unconsciously sharpened and small nubs protruded from his head, beginning to form horns.

Hans instinctively took another step back at the furious glare sent his way. The veteran criminal couldn't believe it. For the first time in a long, long time, he felt fear. The feral look in Corrin's blood-red slitted eyes told him that the wishy-washy prince he thought the boy was might be even more dangerous than he originally guessed. Hans's tiny brain whirled, trying to think up of a way to get the situation back in his favor. Since the element of surprise was obviously out the window, the next best thing, Hans's mind reasoned, is to create a distraction— _anyone_ to get the prince off guard long enough for him to strike the Samurai down.

Gunter and the others stood apprehensively to the side, unsure if they should be wary of Hans or Corrin. The Great Knight had never seen the white-haired prince look so menacing in all the times that he's known the boy from since he was tiny. However, when Hans glanced their way with a look that the old knight knew all too well when an enemy wanted to decapitate his head from his body, his mind was set once more in trusting Corrin with his life.

"Everyone! To Corrin's side! Now!" He yelled frantically, practically flying up to his saddle. His horse reared up and neighed at the sudden urgency its master emitted. "Go! GO!"

Felicia jolted before scuttering towards said prince with Rinkah and Kaze close behind. Gunter made sure everyone was at Corrin's side before urging his horse to the prince's side as well. Unfortunately, Hans chose this moment to attack, violently knocking him off course. The blow was so powerful that the Great Knight's steed skidded and bounced off the thick ropes of the bridge, crying out in fright.

"Mr. Gunter!" Felicia screamed in alarm, hands cupping her mouth as she stared on with a horrified expression.

Gunter gasped and yelped in blinding pain from the long diagonal slash he received to his waist by the iron axe. The blade had pierced away dark armor and drew massive amounts of blood. The old knight gritted his teeth, huffing in pain and exertion as he pulled at the reins as hard as he could to prevent the horse from panickingly stepping over the creaky wooden boards of the treacherously swaying bridge, evidently falling towards their deaths. Thankfully, the equine's hoofs continuously stomped on concrete wood instead of air, successfully managing to keep it and its rider on the bridge. The Great Knight's short-lived relief didn't last long however when he looked up and saw Hans grinning at him maliciously with his axe swung up in preparation for another strike. Gunter had half a mind to note that apparently this was the place where he will finally fall in battle.

Seeing the crimson liquid ooze out of Gunter's side was the last straw for Corrin. The Manakete growled lowly and deeply, alarming the allies around him by how inhumane he sounded. He didn't need to look to know that bubbles were erupting from his body as his hands grew into claws and his nubs grew into his usual majestic horns.

"Wh-whaaaaat is HAPPENING?!" Squealed the terror-stricken Samurai. He clung onto the nearest thing beside him as he watched Corrin demonically shift into his half-dragon form, eyes comically enlarged to as wide as dinner plates.

"I-I don't know!" Answered a frightened Felicia, clinging the Samurai back. She didn't know what was happening to her master, didn't know why Hans was attacking Gunter, and she didn't know who exactly she was hugging onto for dear life either. Frankly, she didn't really care about the last part because— _oh gods_ Corrin had just tackled Hans to the ground and now they're rolling around grappling at each other like macho wrestlers.

"GRRR! Damn you—freaking GAH!—what the hell are you even—?! OWW! MY FACE!"

By the gods! Corrin had just bitten Hans in the face! Rinkah silently winced in sympathy.

'Been there, done that pal…' The flame tribalist thought to herself coolly.

Before anyone could attempt to respond to the shocking turn of events, the leader of the Hoshidan troop warped beside the Samurai.

"Report! What is going on?!" Omozu shouted, fearfully eyeing Corrin who snarled and hissed as he tried to gouge Hans's eyeballs out.

"WE DON'T KNOW!" Both the Samurai and Felicia exclaimed in unison, tears gathered at the corner of their eyes as they continued to hug each other for mutual comfort. If Omozu was surprised to see one of his men clutching onto a Nohrian Maid, both looking equally pitiful and very much afraid, he didn't have the luxury to give a damn about it because he was too busy staring at a mutant dragon boy hammer-arming a Berserker's nuts.

Oh dear gods. He even hears an audible crunch. _Owch_.

Hans, with his axe long gone, curled into himself as he gingerly held his cracked balls. All the men within the vicinity—except Corrin—grimaced at the utterly unfathomable pain the criminal must be in.

"Holy stink-spitting butt-licking liver-sucking no-good barnacle freakin' hell on earth!" Hans wheezed, teeth clenched so tight that the skin around his thick neck stretched to the point that his bulging veins became visible. He chewed his bottom lip harshly and a trickle of blood soon dribbled down his chin, but the wound was nothing compared to the mind-numbing pain he felt in his broken gonads. "Gods damn it—you freak of nature—hooo I AM IN SO MUCH PAIN DAMN YOU!"

Corrin agilely leapt a couple meters away from the hunched male and thunderously rumbled, "NOW YOU KNOW HOW HE FEELS." He pointed an elongated, clawed finger at a weakly limping Gunter trying to distance himself as much as he can from the fighting, leaning and panting heavily against his uninjured horse.

"FORGET ABOUT HIM!" Hans roared indignantly, squeezing his eyes shut and finally dropping to his knees as the searing pain between his legs became too much for him to handle. "I only nicked him in the side, I didn't FRIGGIN' TAKE OUT HIS FAMILY JEWELS LIKE YOU DID!" He hissed through his gritted, uneven teeth. "OWWW MY DAMNED JEWELS!"

All was quiet and tense as the Berserker moaned and banged his head against the wood. Gunter finally stumbled over to where Kaze and the others stood petrified on the spot, unable to properly react to the situation at hand. Just how do you even go about in a circumstance like this? A man, who was about to kill someone a minute ago, is bent over on a bridge holding his abused junk; while the abuser of the man's junk, who was a normal looking young man also a minute ago, now looks like a half-metal reindeer slash masked Terminator experiment gone wrong.

Then, Corrin burst out laughing. "BWAHAHAHAHA!" He collapsed onto the ground and starting rolling around while banging his leathery palms on the bridge's boards. "AHAHAHAHAHA! OH MY GOD! HOLY CRAP! HAHAHAHA!"

"The hell you laughin' at?!" Hans shouted, thoroughly enraged and slightly constipated.

"YOU!" Came the immediate reply followed by more unrestrained laughter. "I actually got to kick you in the balls—! Or rather, arm you in the balls—but still!"

Hans's face flushed with fury. "Shuddap, ya little crybaby!"

Corrin coughed once, twice, before stilling. He sat up and, although no one could see his eyes in his half-dragon form, glared at the Berserker. "What did you just call me?"

Hans grinned, thinking he's finally one-upped the albino prince. "Oh? Isn't it true? I saw ya cryin' back at the throne room. You sure was weeping so pathetically. Did a girl die on ya or something?"

Hans didn't know it, but that was the perfect remark to trigger Corrin. The dragon shifter stood up slowly like a prowling predator, cracking his neck and knuckles threateningly. "Say that again will you?"

"Of course, milord!" The brave, foolish man crowed mockingly. "Lord Corrin, the greatest, wittle crybaby prince of all time!"

Corrin crouched in an aggressive stance and growled seethingly. "You dipshit son of a motherless goat!" He bounded towards the Berserker who began struggling to get back onto his feet again. "I'm gonna legit kick you back to the place where the sun never shines by kicking you in the place where the sun never shines!"

"Wha?" Puzzled by the choice of words Corrin used, Hans glanced up just in time to see the white-haired Manakete in front of him, standing on one leg and rearing his other far away back. Next thing he knew, the color white and dozens of stars exploded across his vision as the Berserker entered the realm of unspeakable pain once more. Yet again, pained groans and breathless gasps came from the downed criminal, whose bottom was raised high in the air as his whole body folded over on itself and both hands went back to cradling his definitely bruised jewels.

"Yo ho ho and a bottle of SUCK IT, BITCH!" If Corrin could in his mouthless draconic state, he would've blown him a raspberry. Childish? Yes. But he would've done it nonetheless. However, something far more creative popped into his enlightened mind. A leer settled in Corrin's unseen eyes. "Get ready, bitch!" With that, he kicked the Berserker around so his butt was facing him and the rest of the stunned onlookers. He clasped his hands together and stuck his thumb, index and middle fingers straight up, forming a familiar hand seal.

"Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ouji!"

Kaze raised a brow at this. ''Konohagakure'? 'Hidden Leaf Village'? Where is that?'

"Sennen Goroshi!"

In a flash, Corrin rushed directly at the Berserker's unguarded buttocks and brutally jabbed his joined index and middle fingers into the other man's clothed butthole. Mercilessly.

"YEAAAAAARRURRRUUGHGHHHH!"

In this one moment of complete ludicrousness, physics ceased to exist—as if saying "I need a vacation from this lunacy right now."—and thus Hans was literally blasted into the sky, off to who-knows-where.

Corrin held an augmented, leathery hand to his forehead while his other hand rested casually on his hip as he watched the shining, twinkling sparkle that is Hans falling in the far, far distance. He whistled lowly, nonchalantly transforming back to his human self again, and then turning around to face the dumbfounded audience he's gathered throughout the commotion with a charming, friendly smile.

"Well, I don't think he's gonna be coming back anytime soon."

Utter silence spread amongst the canyon, with the exception of the occasional thunder that continued to boom. Most of the Hoshidan warriors had their jaws hanging open flabbergastedly, and one guy even managed to somehow catch a fly in his mouth.

Corrin chuckled in amusement. "What's with the looks, guys?"

"H-how…did..." Felicia started.

"Wh-what…" The Samurai beside her added.

"...in the…" Gunter rasped out.

"Damn…" Rinkah muttered.

"...freaking hell…" Omozu breathed.

"...happened...?" Kaze ended the broken speech between them, blinking helplessly.

It certainly wasn't everyday to see someone penetrate a man's butthole and then see the same man fly over a mountain a split second later. _Holy hell_ , how did Corrin even do that?!

Corrin tilted his head innocently before perking up and snapping his fingers. "Oh right! I just realized that I haven't told you guys the truth yet!" He cleared his throat and inhaled deeply. "I promised you all that I'll tell you guys how I knew that Hans would—well, _would've_ —sabotaged the mission and harm the Hoshidans here once we get to the Bottomless Canyon, yeah? Well, here's your answer!" Corrin's pearly whites beamed dazzlingly, acting like as if he hadn't just launched a man 10,000 meters into the air by using his fingers. He puffed his chest out and spread his arms welcomingly to the sides.

"I'm from the future!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

The silence stretched out longer than before. Even the thunder and lightning had stopped for a full 40 seconds—a new record!—before resuming its roaring and flashing once again.

"'From the future', huh…" Rinkah squinted at him skeptically, pursing her lips as if she had just tasted something sour. "You're saying...that the reason you knew about this mission beforehand...is that you're from the future."

Corrin's smile dropped from his face, arms lowering as he sighed dejectedly. His gaze slid downwards as his heart suddenly felt inexplicably heavy. Of course. Of _fucking course_ they wouldn't believe an outlandish claim like that. His dear Nohrian siblings didn't believe him, so why would he think for a second that these Hoshidan strangers would believe—

"That makes so much sense!"

Corrin whipped his head up at the exclamation. His wide eyes met a pair of fiery ones as red as his. Rinkah greeted him with a laugh and a toothy grin. "No wonder you knew me and Kaze's names before we even told anyone! If you are from the future, then it makes sense why you behave so damn calmly during life-threatening situations, and why you seem to know practically everything!" She approached the astonished prince and patted his shoulder heartily. "I thought you were just a mental case back at Castle Krakenburg, but if you came from the future, then you ain't so crazy after all!"

"It is understandable then why you fought the crowned prince with a loaf of bread and defeated him." Kaze mused with a small, amused smile as he reminisced the unforgettable memory. "One would no doubt have possessed far more superior skill if hailed from the future, and with skill comes unshakable confidence like the one you have, Lord Corrin."

"He fought the crowned prince with _bread_ …?" Omozu stared at the young albino perplexedly, unbelieving of what he's just heard. "Wait." He finally found enough strength to yank his hard gaze away from Corrin to get a good look at the person standing next to him. "Is that you, Kaze? You and Rinkah are still alive?"

Kaze crossed his arms coolly and nodded. "Hello Omozu, I'm glad to see you again." A kind smile spread on the green-haired Ninja's lips. "Rinkah and I are just fine. Thank you for your concern."

"But didn't you two get captured by the Nohrians?" The older Ninja frowned, his eyes shifting warily to Corrin, his retainers, and then back to Corrin again. "Aren't you two their prisoners?"

"Yes. And, well, yes." Kaze's smile vanished as he recalled his imprisonment. "We were taken to Castle Krakenburg in Nohr's capital, kept there as training sacks for newbie soldiers. A few days ago, Lord Corrin became our opponent." At this, he turned and gave a smile to said prince. "We were completely defeated."

Corrin, who was grinning like an idiot as he rode high on his joy of finally being believed in, rubbed his neck sheepishly and chuckled. "Haha, well I tried my best to go easy on you guys…"

Kaze turned back to Omozu and continued narrating the past events. "When King Garon ordered us dead, Lord Corrin refused to let no such thing happen. In fact, he jumped right in front of me and saved my life from an execution meant for me; to which, I am forever eternally grateful for his courage." He finished with a small bow to the Manakete.

"Oh it's no big deal. I saved you the first time, so it's natural for me to do it again." Corrin, still ginning idiotically, closed his eyes meekly as he waved off the glittering gaze of veneration Kaze pinned him with.

"He's honorable and humble, huh…" Omozu murmured under his breath, carefully sizing the albino up from head to toe. The aged Ninja really was thankful that the white-haired boy had saved Kaze and Rinkah, and thought it admirable to go against the King of Nohr just to save those youngsters, but the image of the infuriated monstrosity the prince was transformed into before was still fresh on his mind.

And as for the time travel thing, he and the rest of his soldiers don't really know what to make of it. It sounds exactly like utter hogwash spoken from an imprudent Nohrian's mouth, but Kaze and Rinkah both seem to entirely believe in the prince's claim—and Omozu _knows_ that they aren't the types of people to just believe in a wild claim like that without reason—so maybe it's...the truth?

 _Holy hell_.

"Sir!" Someone suddenly called out, sounding alarmed. A pained groan followed his shout. "The knight has collapsed! His complexion is deathly pale. What do we do?!"

Everyone's eyes shifted to where the voice came from and saw one of the Archers down on one knee trying his best to support a very weakened Gunter. True to the man's words, Gunter's face was so drained that it was white as a sheet. Pain was clearly written all over the old man's features as he heaved heavily, struggling hard to keep his body upright while trying to raise himself back onto his feet again. A trembling hand clutched weakly at his open wound while the other hung desperately onto the plates of his horse's armor, with the equine itself nuzzling his temple tenderly, concerned for its rider's health.

Corrin and Felicia gasped, and immediately they were down by Gunter's side.

"Gunter! Are you okay?! Don't push yourself!" The prince swooped in under the free arm not cradling the bleeding injury, adjusting the hand to grip onto his sturdy shoulder instead of cold metal plating.

"Hang in there! I'll heal you right now!" Felicia brought out her staff to cast it's soothing light on Gunter's midsection. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she's trying, there was hardly any visible change. "Oh no! It's not healing fast enough! I need bandages to slow his bleeding or else he'll bleed out!"

Gunter grunted feebly from the excruciating pain. A moment later, his body slumped forwards and his limbs went limp. At the panicked shouts and whimpers from Corrin and Felicia, Omozu made up his mind to help them in return for saving his fellow Hoshidans.

"Then let's hurry him to the fort. There's some medical supplies stashed in there." And with that statement, Omozu signalled the Archer to help Corrin half carry Gunter to the not-so-abandoned building with Felicia, Kaze, Rinkah, and practically the entire Hoshidan troop following not far behind.

...

"Milord." Iago begun, bowing lowly once he's in front of the stairs leading to Garon's throne.

"Rise." Garon grunted with disdain, leisurely leaning his head against his knuckles. He cracked open his closed, resting eyes and glared down upon the wretch. "Speak. What is it."

"It's Lord Corrin, my King. He's…" Iago hesitated, slowly straightening himself back up. "I'm slightly concerned that the boy may prove to be even more troublesome than we'd thought."

"What do you mean, Iago?" The King scowled angrily, hands curling into fists at the mention of the cocky, but undisputedly powerful prince. "Will the plan fail? Spit it out already, fool."

"Ah, my apologies..." The Sorcerer gulped, sensing the irate mood his liege was in. "Of course the plan wouldn't fail—I mean, it's brilliantly crafted by none other than the mind of Your Grace, and I've made sure it is absolutely foolproof. It's just...you don't suppose that somehow the dastard prince had already regained his sealed memories, do you?"

At this, the Nohr King's frown deepened. "What makes you suggest such an absurd notion? Should the spell not last long enough until he reaches Hoshido?"

"It should, milord, it should." Iago pursed his lips, nervously glancing at the crimson carpet and briefly wondering how many bloodstains are splashed on the fabric...and then realizing that if he doesn't provide a satisfying explanation as to why he brought this topic up, he'll probably become a stain as well. The mage cleared his suddenly dry throat fearfully, knowing that if he delay the reason for this conversation any longer, Garon might decide to end his life early. "It's a minor detail that I thought it not important enough to bring to your attention, but before you issued Lord Corrin the mission, I overheard him talking about said mission in perfect detail. He…" Iago paused to swallow thickly. "He even knew about Hans's planned betrayal."

"WHAT?!" Garon fully sat up from his slouch and banged his fists on the throne's dark marble armrests. He snarled vehemently. "WHY DID YOU NOT TELL ME THIS SOONER, YOU INCOMPETENT BUFFOON?!"

Iago paled and threw himself onto the ground, groveling pitifully. "I'm sorry, King Garon! I'm truly sorry! Please! Please, I beg of you to forgive me, my King! Please!"

Garon let out a frustrated, vicious growl as he slumped back into his seat. Iago continued to grovel away and plead for his life.

"M-my apologies, your Highness. I mean, I was going to inform you, but I pondered upon it and thought it impossible he knew. The princeling could very well be bluffing—he might have known I was there eavesdropping, I mean, it's possible since he had easily detected my presence earlier in this room—I-I-I'm s-sorry! I, it—it just doesn't make sense how he could've known—I wasn't sure whether or not he was baiting me, or striking doubt into our flawless plan—I wasn't sure _how_ he'd even seen through our plans—if that's even possible in the first place—"

"Enough." Garon bellowed, getting exasperated with the mage's constant blabbering. "Will there be a setback now that the foolish boy knows of the trap set for him at the Bottomless Canyon or not?! Will the plan fail or not?!"

The Sorcerer noticed Garon's murderous glare and flinched out of total fear. A cold sweat had drenched his back thoroughly by now. "P-please lay your worries to rest, milord, I—I'm sure the Hoshidan Queen will be dead within a fortnight. Despite his unexpected knowledge of the mission to the Bottomless Canyon, there is no way he could possibly know the rest of the mission that will follow. Everything will go as planned, I'm sure of it."

"It better, Iago. Or your life will be in danger." The old king threatened bitingly, effectively ending the conversation.

Outside the door stood another eavesdropper, but this one was far kinder than Iago. A gloved hand covered the secret listener's mouth, trying to muffle the shocked gasp that nearly made herself known to the men inside the throne room. Wide amethyst orbs blankly stared into space as their owner gulped to herself quietly. "I can't believe it...Big Brother...he…" A sinking feeling of guilt suddenly rushed through her petite body, causing unshed tears to well up in the corner of her eyes. "He was telling the truth! He really did come from the future!"


	5. Hoshibro, Home of the Broshidans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hoshido fam reunites with Corrin: Ryoma is very glad to see that his little brother remembers them, Hinoka cries and feels a hundred times better afterwards, Takumi is less of an angsty brat mostly because Corrin doesn't give a crap, and Sakura gets a glimpse of the epicness of Attack on Titan. 
> 
> Mikoto and Corrin finally gets a chance to act like an actual family; while Azura and Corrin have a fluffy moment, before Corrin tactlessly causes her to faint into a lake. 
> 
> Lilith, watching Corrin from the bottom of said lake, facepalms.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

_Emphasis_

LOUD NOISES

'Quoting'

" _Azura's Song_ "

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**Hoshibro, Home of the Broshidans**

* * *

...

He didn't know when exactly he had passed out, but the next thing Gunter knew, he found himself blinking open his groggy eyelids lethargically as he slowly regained consciousness. When his vision finally cleared enough for him to distinguish his surroundings, the old knight had expected to see a dark ceiling with dancing shadows highlighted by candlelight, but instead he was surprised to see red wooden beams illuminated by warm lanterns hanging near its ends. Then he reminded himself that there's a good chance he isn't in Nohr anymore since the last thing he remembered before losing consciousness was being on a bridge smackdab in the middle of a horde of Hoshidans.

But the Hoshidan-looking man who emerged onto his field of view was the thing that confirmed his theory.

"Ah! I see you've awoken." The greenish-haired man smiled kindly at him. "Just in time too. I've finished preparing your medicine and some herbal tea a few minutes ago. Do you need help sitting up?"

Gunter took a second to snap himself back to reality, momentarily fazed by the Hoshidan's friendliness. It felt weird and a tad nice to have a Hoshidan not glare at you when they speak to you. Looks like it has definitely been a while, Gunter realized, for him to be this close to a Hoshidan without any murderous intent of stabbing the other through. Perhaps war and him go farther back than he'd like to admit.

The old knight nods slightly after discovering that his tongue and throat were too dry and scratchy to make any sort of sound. The hands pushing him up were firm, yet mindful of his bandaged wound. They quickly readjusted the soft blanket pooling around his waist before reaching over beside their owner's lap to fetch a cup of steaming liquid.

'It smells like tea.' Gunter thought numbly as he willed his own quivering hands to steady as he retrieved the cup from the Hoshidan's warmer ones. He took a whiff of the tea's calming fragrance and sighed quietly. Slowly, he brought the tall, brown clay cup to his lips and sipped the herbal essence down, immediately feeling the rejuvenating effects of the soothing beverage. It wasn't the usual legendary Jakob-worthy tea, but Gunter did enjoy the sensation of becoming rehydrated and having his senses resharpen to his usual level of awareness.

"Tha—AHEM!" Gunter coughed into his fist in an attempt to restart his vocal cords. It worked. "Pardon me. What I meant to say is thank you for the tea and your hospitality."

"No problem. You are very welcome." The Hoshidan smiled cheerily, his cheeks hollowing slightly as small dimples made themselves known by the corners of the man's mouth.

'They look rather charming on him,' Gunter thought unconsciously before he forcibly tore his gaze away with a light blush dusting his healthier-looking complexion. 'Now where on earth did _that_ come from?! Argh, perhaps I've lost more blood than I thought.'

Mostly out of curiosity but also out of awkward embarrassment from his previous thoughts, the old knight glanced down and took a good look at himself for the first time since upon awakening. A pure white Hoshidan robe made of thin silk draped over his broad frame, covering all but leaving a huge V-shaped opening to his chest and parts of his navel.

'Perhaps it's for easier access to treating my wounds,' Gunter reasoned, glad to know that he wasn't completely left in his smallclothes like a helpless babe. As a Nohrian, he is uncomfortable with the idea of total, or even partial nudity in the presence of strangers, but he didn't mind the revealing gap so much seeing that practically all of his chest and stomach were wrapped in strips of clean, white bandages.

The Hoshidan extended a hand to him, causing Gunter to carefully trace his eyes up the arm attached to the beckoning hand only to see a kind, aged face—however not as wizened as his own—and a pair of amused, twinkling eyes behind a pair of smart-looking round glasses.

"Well?" The green—turquoise. Upon further inspection made by unblurred eyesight, it's turquoise—haired man chuckled airily. "Are you planning on keeping that teacup?"

"Ah yes. Er, I mean no. My apologies, here you are." Gunter shook himself out of his stupor and darted his eyes to the cup he was holding in an effort to stop examining the man before him. Instead, he offered the cup back to the awaiting hand in front of his own.

Gunter's gaze lingered on the other man's hand a few seconds longer than necessary. The appendages looked slim and worn, but not as weathered as his own. The knight could tell that whoever this man was, he must have not been in battle for quite some time, but judging by the numerous, teensy shallow cuts littered here and there, this man must handle paper—documents most likely—a lot on a daily basis. If not, Gunter couldn't imagine what else he must be doing to get so many papercuts.

The old Nohrian couldn't help but suddenly feel guilty for making these subtle observations about the other. Being able to quickly glance over the enemy and judge their fighting style based on small, unnoticed details like these was what helped him survive on the battlefield for this long, but this room isn't a battlefield and the Hoshidan with him who hospitably offered him tea certainly isn't his enemy either.

'For now…' A tiny voice whispered from the back of Gunter's mind before it got immediately shushed.

The Hoshidan man cleared his throat to draw Gunter's attention to him once more. He no longer had a smile on his face, yet his eyes were not unkind—just a bit annoyed. It seems like the knight's unintended analyzing was noticed by the other and wasn't taken very lightly. Gunter suddenly had the decency to look sheepish.

Deciding to show mercy by not bringing up Gunter's earlier behaviour, the Hoshidan asked, "you are Lord Corrin's guardian, yes?" A question laced with thick genuine curiosity. The Hoshidan tilted his head upwards inquiringly. "I haven't known the young lord for very long, so I must admit I'm curious about him. Tell me, what is Lord Corrin like?" He finished just as he subconsciously reached up to adjust his glasses.

The memories of witnessing Corrin fending off Siegfried with a single loaf of bread _and_ shooting Hans up thousands of feet into the air with his elongated and clawed fingers came back to the experienced knight, making him inadvertently chuckle. "My liege is the most friendliest, trustworthy, earnest, kindest, and absolutely outstanding young man you will ever meet." Gunter paused for a moment, pondering on what else is needed to be said. "He _is_ a little more eccentric than I remember, but still nonetheless absolutely outstanding."

"I see, hahah!" Gunter blinked in surprise at the unexpected short laugh he elicited from the Hoshidan. The man's smile was back, and it was bigger than ever. "I figured as much, considering the events that happened today. You have no idea what ruckus, chaos, and confusion he's caused amongst the residents of Castle Shirasagi since upon his arrival." Rubbing his chin mischievously as he tried to muffle his laughter, the man shifted his eyes to the side and murmured thoughtfully to himself. "I think poor Prince Takumi suffered the worst of it all."

Noticing the other's baffled expression, the turquoise-haired man tamed his mirth and faced the old knight with a soft, kind smile once more. "My apologies if I startled you. I'm not usually this chummy with people outside of the royal family, much less a Nohrian, but the return of Prince Corrin has gotten everyone's mood in such high spirits today, including mine." The man chuckled, his fingers went up to his glasses and adjusted them again absentmindedly. "There's been a flurry of commotion since this morning when the news of his arrival and the prince himself showed up on our doorstep. The bear hug he gave Queen Mikoto as they cried into each other's embrace was the loveliest sight I've ever seen." The man sighed dreamily, clearly still on some kind of cloud nine. "It's been a very long time since I've seen the Queen smile so happily as she wept not tears of sadness, but tears of joy." He closed his eyes, smiling contently as he reminisced about the touching scene he witnessed earlier. "The sight was a joyous one indeed."

"I see." Gunter stated plainly, unsure of what to say to that. He doesn't understand why his lord would suddenly have the nerve to hug Nohr's enemy, the Queen of Hoshido. Maybe it's just part of Corrin's newfound unpredictability? Or perhaps his newfound craziness? Gunter furrowed his brows, deeply puzzled. "I can't really understand or imagine why Lord Corrin would suddenly hug the Hoshidan Queen as such. Do you have any inkling as to why he did?"

"Oh? You don't know?" The Hoshidan man's eyes widened slightly, his smile replaced by a surprised frown. "Lord Corrin is the lost Prince of Hoshido. He is Queen Mikoto's long-lost son."

It took a moment for Gunter to remember how to breath. It then took another moment for him to remember what words were.

"What?!"

The Hoshidan man hummed in wide-eyed amusement, readjusting his glasses once more before resting both his wrists on his waist. "I'm honestly surprised you didn't know. As Lord Corrin's guardian, shouldn't you have known of his origins?"

"Yes...well no...King Garon never mentioned anything about where he came from when he entrusted him to me. To be frank, I haven't exactly been up to date on current news either after he locked me away with him in the Northern Fortress..." Obviously rattled by the newly discovered information of his lord's status, Gunter mentally swore as he ran a hand broodingly through his grey hair that Corrin was intentionally doing this to him; he was intentionally planning on shocking him to death every single day with completely bizarre, yet apparently true facts about himself that he didn't bother to bring up during the many years he spent growing up with him inside an isolated fortress. Gunter groaned, feeling a headache beginning to form. "I don't understand why Lord Corrin is like this. He wasn't like this a week ago, but now he's just so...insanely unpredictable."

The Hoshidan stared at him with an incredulous expression. "What? Hadn't he announced to everyone back at the Bottomless Canyon of his current circumstance? Did you not hear him tell you he was from the future?"

At this, Gunter looked up at the other like as if he was the insane one. "The future…?" He voiced out skeptically. "What do you mean by that?"

The turquoise-haired man huffed indignantly at the incredulous look Gunter eyed him with. He altered the position of his glasses again as he replied to the disbelieving expression on the other's face. "Oh don't give me that look. I swear to you I'm not making this up. I am just as surprised as you are about Lord Corrin's claims of coming from the future, but based on what happened today…" The man's eyes drifted to the side thoughtfully. "I think I no longer doubt him on it."

"I don't recall hearing any such thing about him coming from the future—" Gunter began but suddenly stopped as something came across his mind. "Erm...but mayhaps I did…" He furrowed his brows together as he struggled to recall the last few seconds of his consciousness back at the Bottomless Canyon. "I don't remember much when I was on the verge of passing out from blood loss, so it's possible I may have forgotten."

The Hoshidan sighed, fingers reaching up to readjust his glasses once again. By now, Gunter suspected the motion was something more of a habit than making sure that the man could see properly. "Well, I suppose I can take the time to explain everything to you—Lady Mikoto did give me the whole day off after all as she would rather be too busy spending time with her dearly missed son than with me and my incessant squabbling." He snickered to himself at his own jest before mentally reminding himself that he was with a guest—a very confused one at that.

"Before we continue, I guess I should introduce myself first." He held out a firm yet smooth-skinned hand for the old Nohrian to shake. "My name is Yukimura, Queen Mikoto's trusted advisor and Hoshido's top strategist." He then added with a small, friendly smile. "You seem like a good, decent fellow, and I trust my ability of judging one's character. What is your name?"

"Why thank you, I aim not to disappoint." Gunter proudly straightened his back, internally wincing but outwardly ignoring the strain it put on his mending wound. "I am named Gunter, a Knight of Nohr and Lord Corrin's loyal guardian." They quickly shook hands, exchanging nods of confirmation. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Yukimura."

"Excellent. I as well." Yukimura cleared his throat quickly before starting his report of the day's events. "Now then, let me tell you what's happened today."

…

Like what Yukimura said, the reunion between mother and son-who-was-actually-a-41-year-old was as sweet as it can possibly get.

The moment Corrin arrived at the gates of Castle Shirasagi, he personally made sure that Gunter got the proper medical attention he needs to recover. Rinkah offered to take Gunter's horse to the stables, so they temporarily parted ways at the gate. When the old knight was carried off in a different direction deeper into the castle, Felicia fidgeted anxiously, torn between the duty to stay with her lord and the want to go with the healers to make sure that Gunter will be alright. Taking pity, Corrin reassured her that he would be fine and that he is strong enough to take care of himself for a few hours so she can go with Gunter and won't have to fret about him all day.

And also, due to how destructive she is with her usual level of absentmindedness, Corrin fears that if she gets even more distracted than usual by her concern for Gunter's well-being, she might find a way to destroy the entire castle before sunset. Of course, Corrin would never dare say this out loud lest he wants Felicia's already diminishing confidence in herself to completely vanish like last week's tea set; held for a full minute in said pinkette's hands before crashing to the ground and meeting its quick demise.

Nodding hesitantly yet not ungrateful, Felicia immediately dashed off in the direction where the Hoshidan Priestesses had gone with the old knight.

Now alone—not counting the Hoshidan guards and Kaze escorting him—Corrin thought to himself, 'man, is it good to be home,' as he nostalgically gazed around the oriental styled halls with a content smile. The climb up the cliff leading to Castle Shirasagi was as steep as always, but after two decades of constant traveling to and fro from the castle to the town below in order to socialize with his fellow Hoshidan citizens—he's always been quite the social butterfly, even during the war—Corrin has already gotten used to this extra bit of cardio that he undergoes on a daily basis.

While traversing through an open corridor with the beautiful castle gardens visible just on the other side, the comfortable silence that settled amongst the group as they leisurely journeyed to the throne room was broken by Kaze's quiet cough. He discreetly sped up his pace until he was just slightly behind Corrin.

Corrin turned his head towards the Ninja with an inquisitive smile. "Yes? Is something wrong?"

The green-haired man responded by smiling back politely, "nothing is wrong, milord. I am just simply feeling curious about the techniques you possess, especially the one you used at the Bottomless Canyon." He paused before continuing on. "Erm, if I may be so bold, may I ask about it? It is a rather unusual yet powerful technique that piques my interest. What was it called again?"

"Oh, you mean the Sennen Goroshi?" Corrin asked while staring out at the lush scenery of the royal gardens. The rush of the tranquil stream, the colorful little bridges connecting one patch of green land to the next, the decorative stone lanterns, the happy chirps from nearby nestling birds, and the pearly pink cherry blossoms blooming all over the place was literally a scene from heaven compared to the dreary wastelands of Nohr. Ah, how he missed this beautiful home of his.

'The sooner this war is over, the sooner I can help Ryoma improve Nohr's economy again, just like last time.' Corrin thought confidently. 'I remember Ryoma telling me before that he had absolutely no idea what Nohr was like until he got there and saw its conditions for himself. It was a shameful thing for him to admit, but Ryoma confessed that he was a bit ignorant and too stubborn to bother learning about Nohr at this moment in time. His intentions in the end were good though, so I suppose that's what matters.'

"'Thousand Years Of Death', what a dramatic name for a technique." Kaze mused out loud, raising an eyebrow at the interpretation of the technique's name.

This brought Corrin out of his own thoughts and back to the conversation at hand. He smiled and shrugged sheepishly. "I guess it is, isn't it? I wasn't the one who made it up though. All credit of the name goes to Masashi Kishimoto."

Kaze blinked at him uncertainly. "...who?"

"Y'know, the creator of Naruto." Corrin answered plainly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Kaze glanced back at the two guards for help, but the two Samurais looked back at him equally confused. Kaze faced Corrin again, shooting him a clueless look. "And who exactly is this Naruto?"

"You don't know about Naruto?!" Corrin suddenly exclaimed, surprising the Hoshidans by how shocked he sounded. "He's the most popular ninja in the world who wears _neon orange_ , how can you not know—" Corrin paused in the middle when he realized he was breaking the fourth wall. "Oh, right, you guys don't know Naruto. My bad." He laughed nervously, waving his hand dismissively. "Hahaha, just forget I said anything, okay?"

Before he could give the muddled Hoshidans a chance to answer, Corrin suddenly stopped in his tracks as a flash of silver weaved around the corner several corridors ahead of them.

'That flash of silver...was that Takumi?' Corrin wondered as he subconsciously thought back to the last time he saw his hotheaded little brother.

Kaze and the two guards were taken aback by Corrin's abrupt halt, and when they asked him what was wrong, all they received in response was an evil rascally look slowly morphing onto Corrin's face. They were beginning to seriously worry about the prince's mental state when suddenly without warning the white-haired Manakete bolted down the hall towards the location where he last glimpsed the long silver hair. It was so utterly unexpected that by the time the Hoshidan soldiers could react and panic from his sudden departure, Corrin was long gone and nowhere to be found, sprinting down the maze of corridors that he instinctively knew how to navigate through like the back of his hand. Two decades is a long, long time after all.

Corrin grinned like the Cheshire Cat as he pursued his unfortunate target. At one point, he even leapt straight onto the gardens and ran through a small river in order to reach his 'prey' faster. When he thought back to the last time he saw Takumi, he was reminded of the unholy grease concoction he pranked his little brother with, and that sparked his mischievous and overly affectionate side that he has exclusively towards his younger tsundere sibling. Theirs was a mutual relationship of lighthearted teasing, jokes, and open affection—mostly on Corrin's part though—that he and the Takumi of the future shared after the many years of close family bonding during and after the war. It crossed his mind as he tracked down the other prince through the hallways that this past Takumi would probably not share the same sentiment the Takumi of his time has towards him if he were to surprise attack him with hugs, kisses, and cuddles.

But since when does he give a crap about things like that?

...

It was just another regular day for Takumi, the second Prince of Hoshido. He woke up at the crack of dawn, gulped down a couple of his favorite flavored onigiris, practiced his shooting until breakfast, sat down with his older brother Ryoma and their mother Mikoto at the low dining table, ate a lightly filling meal, watched his mother laugh at a small joke he made—that was his favorite part—then went for a quick soak in the royal bathhouse, chatted with his two loyal retainers/best friends, and now he's headed for the archery area to do some more training. All in all, things were going pretty great today for good ol' Takumi...

"TAAAAKUUUMIIIIIII!"

...but it could've been better.

Out of nowhere, a yell of unadulterated exuberance echoed from down the hall, causing the silverette to turn around and see who in the world was the rambunctious idiot screaming his name at the top of their lungs for the whole castle to hear. The Archer had half expected the shout to have been from his hyperactive retainer Hinata, until a field of white barreled into his face before he could even widen his eyes as someone passionately bulldozed him over in a flying tackle. As they fell towards the ground, he could feel his attacker's arms snake around his chest with legendary speed, squeezing his ribs like a python and entrapping him in a tight embrace.

"C'mere, little bro! Give your big bro a hug!~" Corrin practically purred as he nuzzled his fluffy head of platinum locks into the younger male's cheek with such rapture and love that it parallels a quarter of the intense feelings Tharja has for Robin—which is still a whole damn lot.

Nevertheless, after the initial shell-shocking rush of adrenaline and total speechlessness for the situation wore off—and that his heart wasn't on the verge of leaping out of his mouth anymore—Takumi struggled and wiggled violently like as if his life depended on it. "Gahhh! What in the world?! Urrghhh! What is—what are—what do you think you're doing?! Are you trying to strangle me?! Let go!"

The mystery person's distinctively male baritone voice let out an amused laugh. "Nah, bro! I'm giving you a hug! Haven't you ever had one of these, bro? It's kinda sad if ya hadn't!"

The silver-haired prince briefly pauses his struggles out of confusion and a need to catch his breath. The perpetrator of his personal space had a ridiculously strong grip on him, so strong that despite his healthy muscular build as an Archer, he couldn't move the arms wrapped around him even half an inch. "Wh-what? 'Bro'? What's a 'bro'?"

The stranger laughs again as he finally ceased his affectionate nuzzling and pulled back far enough for Takumi to get a good look at him. The young Archer was temporarily mesmerized by the bright crimson pools that pinned him with such childish playfulness he'd almost thought the man before him was his long-lost childhood friend—except he doesn't have a long-lost childhood friend since he doesn't have many friends to begin with. He's never seen anyone in Hoshido with red eyes before, and rarely anyone with hair as white as his own. Just who is this guy?

"You bro! You're mah fellow Broshidan!" The albino man chirped with glee, grinning from ear to ear.

His statement only made Takumi more confused. He furrowed his eyebrows, staring at the other like as if he had just said something really stupid. "'Broshidan'? Don't you mean _Ho_ shidan?"

"Nah, bro!" The stranger shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, the playful grin never leaving his face. "As they say, it's 'bros before hoes', bro!"

The silverette closed his eyes and gritted his teeth irritably, downright fed up with this bewildering man. Takumi doesn't know why, but the male on top of him was beginning to rub him the wrong way—literally too. Some things on a man's body just _should not_ be touched by another man's crotch—unintentionally or not—especially if that man had the audacity to think that body slamming him to the ground is an acceptable first impression. "' _Hoes_ '? What does a farming tool have to do with any of this?! You're not making any sense!" Takumi's face was a scarlet red by now, whether he's blushing out of anger, embarrassment, or slight arousal is debatable at this point. "That said, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?! AND GET OFF ME ALREADY!"

The unknown male merely laughed again before finally releasing the other and scooting back far enough for Takumi to prop himself up on his elbows. He gave him a friendly smile. "I'm your long-lost older brother! Nice to meet you, Takumi!"

Takumi blinked. " _What_."

After a few seconds of dumbfounded staring, the Archer prince shook himself out of the numb, trance-like state he entered and glared at the Manakete harshly. "How dare you sprout those ridiculous lies! You are _not_ my brother! I only have one older brother. His name is Ryoma and he's the High Prince of Hoshido!"

Corrin mentally cringed at the other's statement. 'Ah damn, that stung me deeper than I thought.' He knows that this Takumi was currently going through a phase right now and that he probably didn't know he existed at all, but what he said was still hurtful and thoughtless. Masking his pain, Corrin continued with a forced smile. "Actually, I am. You remember how you sometimes see a depressed gloom in Ryoma, Hinoka, and mother's eyes from time to time? And that how they say they miss someone named Corrin? Y'know, the one who's kidnapped by Nohr? Well," he grinned widely as he pointed his two thumbs at himself, "that's me! I'm that Corrin! I've returned back to Hoshido."

Takumi blinked again. " _What_."

The silver-haired prince shook himself out of his shock another time before narrowing his eyes at the other. "Wait a minute, how do you know my name then? I never met you before you were taken away, and I doubt those Nohrian scums would mention anything about us since they planned on raising you in Nohr."

"I suppose that me knowing your name would be strange under normal circumstances." Corrin nodded in agreement before he gave him a shit-eating grin. "Too bad this isn't a normal circumstance. Y'see, I'm not from this time!" At the perplexed look the Archer gave him, he went on elaborating a bit further. "I'm actually from a time where the upcoming war between Nohr and Hoshido was long over—with Hoshido winning, of course—and that the last time I saw you, you were still angry with me for gelling up your hair with mud, grease, and honey! So in short, I'm from the future! Capeesh?"

Takumi blinked yet again. " _WHAT_."

Now it was Corrin's turn to look confused. "Wait, what didn't you get? The part where I'm from the future, or the part where I solidified your hair?"

"BOTH!" Takumi finally exploded, outraged. He growled at Corrin seethingly. "Who do you think you are making up these stupid lies and thinking that I'd actually believe them?! I may not be the high prince, but I am still a Prince of Hoshido! Do not underestimate me or take me for a fool!"

Corrin's smile disappeared as his expression smoothened out into something plain and neutral. Takumi unconsciously gulped when he saw the seriousness in the other's blood-red eyes. "Who said I was lying? Think about it," Corrin cut in quickly just as the silverette was about to retort, "what other possible explanation is there for me knowing your name? You said so yourself that the Nohrians wouldn't have told me anything about the Hoshidan royal family if they planned on keeping me in Nohr—which they did, by the way." He sighed as he reminisced about his time in Nohr. "The Nohrian royal siblings were fine and honestly quite nice to me, but the Nohrian King and his lackeys weren't so nice at all. Not only did they lock me up in a stupid fortress for all my life, they also went so far as to seal my memories of you guys away. They're real jerks, I tell ya."

"Really? Is that so..." Takumi raised his eyebrows incredulously, looking like he was almost convinced by Corrin's story before quickly reverting back to his suspicious glare. "B-but! W-well, you…!" He stuttered shortly before regaining his composure. "They could've still told you about us, just before sending you back here to spy on us!" He pushed himself up to a low, wary crouch, arm moving slowly towards the scattered Fujin Yumi laying by his side.

Corrin smiled impishly, acting ignorant of the potentially dangerous sacred weapon which was soon back in Takumi's grasp. "Oh? So with you saying that they sent me back here to be a spy, you do acknowledge that I'm your older brother after all!"

"No I do not!" Takumi snarled back.

Corrin chuckled before reaching out and grabbing the other's arm. "C'mon then, if you still think I'm a spy, then I'll go sit on the Hoshidan throne right now and prove to you that I've got nothing to hide."

This made Takumi worried. The young Archer suddenly winced as if he'd been punched in the gut. "You know about the effects of the Hoshidan throne? Gods, I thought Nohr didn't know about that. It was supposed to be a heavily guarded secret only the Hoshidan royal family knew about...argh, just how much does those Nohrian scums know about us…?" He snapped back to reality and glared at Corrin again like he'd just offended him somehow. "Also, get your filthy hand off me! Don't touch me!"

Corrin's shit-eating grin was back again as he simply replied, "nope!"

"What do you mean NO?!"

"'Cause you're coming with me to the throne room. Didn't I just tell you that I'm gonna prove to you I'm not a spy?" Corrin answered matter-of-factly before standing up and walking down the hall in the general direction of the throne room, not bothering to wait for the other prince to stand up or regain his footing.

Ignoring the indignant yelps and squawks of complaints from the younger prince, Corrin mercilessly dragged Takumi off casually by the arm as if this was a common occurrence between them—well, for one of them, at least. No matter how hard the silver-haired Archer twisted and wriggled, Corrin's iron hold on him would not loosen at all, and this only made the younger prince angrier at Corrin and even more angrier at himself for being so weak.

"I am not a sack of rice—! Stop dragging me! Can you please wait at least—?! Let me get up first—! Oof! Okay pal, I can walk on my own—! I don't need you to hold my arm like a child! Are you listening to me?! Grr! Damn you! Let go of me—you freakishly strong—! WHY ARE YOU SO STRONG?!"

Corrin only laughed heartily at the flustered silverette as he continued to drag him along. "I told you! I'm from the future! Naturally, I've undergone waaaaay more muscle training than you, so that's why I'm so much stronger than you."

Corrin's last comment unintentionally struck a nerve in the silver-haired teen. Utterly infuriated, Takumi began cursing at him in Hoshidan.

To say that the servants going around minding their own business were dumbfounded when they saw their beloved young master, Prince Takumi, thrashing around like a fish out of water while being dragged effortlessly by an albino stranger who doesn't even seem to notice or simply does not care that his captive was cursing at him with the seven colors of a rainbow, was the biggest understatement of the century.

When Takumi paused to catch his breath from the variety of insults flying rapidly out of his mouth, Corrin calmly spoke up with a hint of amusement in his tone. "You do realize that with me coming from the future, I know Hoshidan as well as the next Hoshidan citizen, right? So then, you do also realize that I understood every single thing you've said in perfect detail, right? Those were quite the nasty things you said there."

"Well then, _good_!" Takumi instantly barked back, huffing and puffing. He then furrowed his brows at him. "Wait, if you understood everything that I've said, then why didn't you tell me to stop?"

Corrin shrugged half-heartedly. "I wanted to see how far you could go, honestly—and I have to say, you did go pretty damn far. So, good job." He then yawned and stretched nonchalantly as he continued down the hall, uncaring of the fact that he still had his brother's arm in his hand. "Besides, I'm feeling too lazy right now to try and stop you."

"You...y- _you_ …!" Takumi honestly didn't know what to say to that. Suddenly having run out of steam, he slumped his shoulders as he sighed and panted out of exhaustion. "Ughhh, okay I give up! Go ahead, do whatever you want with me. I swear, you're made of steel or something!"

"Oh, why thank you!"

"I hate you…" Takumi grumbled.

"Aww, I love you too!~" Corrin cooed.

Seriously, today could've gone so much better for poor ol' Takumi.

...nah, not really.

...

Back at the throne room, Ryoma crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes furiously at the two guards trembling beneath his withering gaze. The atmosphere was tense and electrifying as the High Prince of Hoshido bellowed furiously, "what do you mean you _lost_ him?!"

"S-sir, please forgive us…" One of the Samurai squeaked timidly before getting silenced by a glare directed specifically at him.

"We-we're sorry…" The other one spoke up, only to make Ryoma growl more in frustration.

The red-clad warrior prince placed a hand over his face and sighed in irritation, unbelieving of the disastrous situation he's found himself in. Ryoma was absolutely thrilled when he heard of the news that his kidnapped little brother was found at the Bottomless Canyon and was finally returning back to them, only to find out that he decided to run off and go missing halfway during the trip to the throne room, right under their noses no less. This turn of events by the fates was absurdly ironic and just plain insulting. "He was _right there_ walking in front of you two! How in the name of the divine Dawn did you two manage to lose him in a second?!"

"F-forgive us, sir! He ran off so unexpectedly that we had no time to react before he disappeared out of our sight, and—"

"Enough excuses!" By now, the high prince's body shook in an effort to keep himself calm. "Gods above, it shames me greatly to know that the noble guards of Castle Shirasagi is so poorly trained as to let someone escape right before their very eyes."

The two Samurais kept their eyes glued to the floor in shame, unable to properly meet their prince's angry gaze.

Before anyone could say anything more, Saizo and Kaze warped in beside the two guards, both kneeling in unison as the older twin announced, "Lord Ryoma, we have found Prince Corrin."

At this, Ryoma's eyes lit up with interest while the Samurai guards simultaneously sighed quietly in relief. "Finally! Some good news! Where is he currently at, Saizo?"

"He's—"

"Aaaaand I'm here!" In that exact moment, the white-haired prince in question came barging in with a more-moody-looking-than-usual Takumi in hand, literally. Corrin gave the grumpy Archer a cocky smirk. "See? I told you I knew the way."

Takumi rolled his eyes at him annoyedly.

"—right here, milord." Saizo finished, seemingly sounding unaffected by Corrin's entrance. Kaze eyed the duo with curiosity and slight amusement.

Ryoma was mildly taken aback by Corrin and Takumi's sudden arrival, but he quickly regained his senses and dismissed Saizo, Kaze, and the guards with a nod of his head and a wave of his hand. Once they were gone, he focused all of his attention on his long-lost brother. Corrin halted when he saw Ryoma. He took a few more steps towards the older man to close the distance between them, also taking a moment to examine the older prince carefully.

'My, he's grown quite a bit.' The High Prince hummed to himself as he and Corrin stared at each other thoughtfully, lost in their own respective thoughts. Takumi was left looking between the two bewilderedly before a tick mark popped onto his forehead and his eyes became half-lidded from annoyance.

'Wow. This Ryoma looks so much younger than the one from my time. I guess the stress from a couple decades of kingship really did a number on his youthful appearance, huh?' Corrin wondered as he absentmindedly blew a stray strand of hair out of his eyes before he grinned cheerfully at Ryoma. "Hi, big Brother! How are you doing?"

Ryoma blinked uncertainly at the other's surprisingly informal and friendly attitude before awkwardly replying a hesitant greeting back. "Uh...hello? I'm...I'm doing fine, thank you." He cleared his throat, looking very much the opposite of his usually confident self. "You...you remember me?" He asked with a soft, hopeful tone, as if speaking to a cute animal and afraid of spooking it.

"Oh brother…" Takumi groaned as he eye-rolled and crossed his arms haughtily. He was, however, glad that his arm was finally released.

"Yes, I do! I wouldn't forget about you big Brother, you're my precious family after all." Corrin felt something nice and fuzzy bloom in his chest when he saw a joyful fondness enter Ryoma's dark eyes. He then glanced behind him at Takumi, smiling and winking. "Both of you, of course."

Takumi turned away with a huff while Ryoma laughed warmly. "Well said, my dear little Brother! Well said! I am so delighted that you remember me—and that you remember your family here in Hoshido. This certainly makes matters much easier to discuss."

As the two older princes chatted amongst themselves, the youngest prince furrowed his brows and sulked in the background. Takumi eyed the friendly smile on the high prince's face, and he couldn't help noticing that for the first time in ages, his elder brother looked like he was truly happy. He then noted with a pang of jealousy that Ryoma had never looked at _him_ like that before. The second Prince of Hoshido fisted his hands angrily, teeth bared in discontent.

'No...I'm not the second...I'm the _third_  Prince of Hoshido now…' Takumi thought, his amber orbs becoming moist as a dreadful cold chill ran down his back at the sudden realization. His lips began trembling.

Ryoma was saying something before perking up a little as he suddenly seems to have remembered something else. "Oh, that's right. Speaking of, I hope you haven't forgotten about our dear mother here." The Swordmaster turned to look to the side at the gently smiling black-haired woman who silently and gracefully approached them.

Corrin, despite all his suave and calmness that he displayed in the faces of all kinds of dangers up until now, could no longer keep up his nonchalant coolness when he laid eyes on his beautiful, loving mother whom he has not seen in, like, _ever_. For the first time since he's gone back in time, Corrin was truly at a lost for words. He could only stare longingly at her, pursing his lips to keep them from shaking while trying his best to not burst into tears...yet.

Takumi, with his ever sharp and judging eyes, raised a brow at the dramatic shift in Corrin's demeanor. Where the albino once stood tall, proud, and slightly sardonic, he now looked small, unguarded, and slightly desperate.

Mikoto smiled at Corrin with pure euphoria blossoming in her heart. She was absolutely elated when the messenger Ninja came to her last evening with news of her kidnapped son, and now she's even more overjoyed just to be able to see him standing in front of her once again. When Corrin said that he still remembers them despite his only memories of them were from back when he was a tiny child, Mikoto wanted to start jumping around with glee right then and there—screw regality, she was a mother first and foremost. Now that her son was here, standing there and looking like a lost little boy—no, _her_ lost little boy—Mikoto wanted nothing more than to hold him in her arms. Her lips quivered as she caught sight of the vulnerable, child-like look in her son's deep crimson pools that she so dearly missed staring into, knowing from some maternal instinct that her sweet baby angel dearly misses her just as much as she misses him.

"I can't believe it's really you…" Stepping forward, she spread open her elegant arms and beckoned Corrin to her. "Oh, my sweet child. I've missed you so much."

Those words were the switch that Corrin was subconsciously waiting for to trigger his floodgates, and once the floodgates were open, they couldn't be stopped.

His loved how his feet moved automatically to his mother, driven to her by the intense yearning deep within his mother-deprived heart. He loved how his mother's hugs were so tender and nurturing, even as his own strong arms greedily squeezed the air out of her. He loved how his mother seemed to know just what to say to him to make him weep harder as they clung onto each other like lifelines. He loved how it felt so good as he poured everything out for her: his troubles, his frustrations, his happiness, his sadness, his pain, or just some random babbling nonsense.

He loved how long it lasted, too.

…

Everyone had lost count of how many minutes it's been since Corrin and Mikoto had locked arms around each other and refused to let go. People curious of the crying had come and stayed for a while to bask in the heartwarming reunion between mother and child, before reluctantly pulling themselves away to resume their daily duties around the castle. Ryoma had watched them hug and cry with a warm doting look in his eyes and a small, content smile; while Takumi had a strangely soft look in his eyes and a small, begrudging frown.

It wasn't until a messenger Samurai, albeit nervous to break apart the platonic scene at first, came dashing in and kneeling with dire news of the attack up north that Corrin and Mikoto finally broke their endearing cuddling.

After all the princes had received their final goodbye hugs and embarrassing farewell kisses from their rather shameless mother, they headed for the stables to fetch some Sky Knights to take them up north. However, because of Takumi's newly added presence, unlike the first run-through, there wasn't enough room for another person in the carriage. And apparently, Hinoka and Sakura had taken all the other carriages and carts when they had set off towards the Valley Settlement a few nights ago for their supply mission. They—Corrin, Ryoma, Takumi, Kaze, and Rinkah—stood around the stables looking at the pegasi and their riders, unsure of what to do.

Corrin spotted Gunter's unarmed horse snorting at them from the stable's corner, and an idea popped up in his head.

"Guys, all of you take the carriage. I'll take another ride."

They turned and stared at him in confusion.

"Corrin? Where are you going?" Ryoma looked on as the white-haired Manakete ran to the far end of the stables and brought out the naked warhorse. Without the usual heavy armor covering its whole body and face, the stallion's muscled body looked somewhat less imposing than normal. Yet as it approached, its ears were pointed backwards threateningly while its dark obsidian eyes glared angrily at the Hoshidans. The mighty beast grunted roaringly at the humans, as if snarling and hissing at them, causing nearly all of the Hoshidan warriors to step back in alarm.

"Shh, easy there…" Corrin placed a hand on the horse's snout, gently rubbing it. "They are not our enemy. Your owner Gunter is fine. It's me, Corrin. Do you remember me?" The dragon prince held his palm in front of the horse's nostrils, allowing the creature to sniff his scent. The animal's eyes immediately softened, and it nuzzled the hand as soon as it recognized who it belonged to. Corrin grinned as he petted the fleshy snout. "That's a good boy. You remember me, don't you? Yes, that's right, it's me Corrin…"

"Wow, you are really good with him." Rinkah commented in amazement before narrowing her eyes in annoyance at the suddenly docile horse. "That stupid beast nearly cracked my ribs when I was putting him away. He bit and almost ripped out my hair too while I was trying to figure out a way to take off his stupid armor."

"Well, I spent a lot of my time in the stables back when I was locked up in the Northern Fortress." Corrin explained as he begun saddling up the dark horse.

"You like horses that much?" Ryoma asked with a hint of amused laughter in his voice. "Oh boy. Wait until Hinoka hears about this. She'd be absolutely delighted to know that her missing little brother grew up to love equine beasts as much as her."

"Heh. Actually, it's because I wasn't allowed to explore outside, so with all that spare time, playing with horses became part of my daily routine. In fact, Gunter taught me how to ride on this exact horse." He patted the animal's neck affectionately before inserting the bit into its mouth. "And I guess I've always had this talent when it comes to handling horses. Gunter once told me that I was a natural-born Cavalier." And with that, Corrin heaved himself up on Gunter's horse, fully prepared to ride. "Whelp, what are you guys waiting for? Get in the carriage and lead the way. We've got two princesses to save."

Without further ado, they took off towards the northern forests: Corrin by horse, and everyone else by sky.

People in the carriage watched from above and marveled at how well Corrin was keeping pace with them, especially as he travelled through the busy Hoshidan streets. It was terrifying at first when Corrin almost ran over a little kid, destroyed someone's vegetable cart, and crashed through a wall, but it was awe-inspiring when Corrin managed to maneuver the horse onto the rooftops to avoid further traffic and obstacles. It got a bit worrisome for them when they saw nearly half of the Hoshidan town guards chasing him, thinking he was some kind of Nohrian ruffian sent here to cause trouble, but once again they were awed when Corrin somehow managed to get the horse to jump over the town wall when dozens of guards swarmed the town gate and refused to let him through. Ryoma winced at the thought of the millions of reports being sent his and his mother's way right this moment due to the chaotic ruckus that Corrin's caused around town in less than an hour.

But little does he know, poor innocent Ryoma will have to deal with more of these headaches caused by Corrin from now on, whether he likes it or not.

...

As the carriage came to a stop near a village, Corrin rode up further towards said village to warn them of the Faceless attacks, knowing that he will get a reward for the warning just like last time.

Pocketing the Goddess Icon, he dismounted near the others and handed the reins off to one of the Sky Knights on standby.

"Okay, here's the plan." Corrin began, his leadership skills instantly taking command of their group of five. "Ryoma, Takumi, there are Dragon Veins all over this place. If you stop and pay close attention to your surroundings, you can sense them yourselves." Ryoma nodded at this while Takumi crossed his arms again and scoffed.

"Big Brother, you head west. I believe you can handle yourself in this battle, but just in case," he turned to the only female of their group, "Rinkah, you go with him. Take care of guarding Ryoma against any surprise attacks, okay?"

When Rinkah and Ryoma both nodded in confirmation and charged off, Corrin turned to the remaining two and said, "we will head north and circle the big mountain. Okay?"

Kaze saluted respectfully while Takumi grumbled out a 'whatever'.

Corrin and Takumi took turns attacking and melting mountains, with Kaze supporting them both on the sidelines and occasionally staring at the piles of melted snow and crumbled rocks in breathless awe at the power of the Dragon Veins. Meanwhile, Rinkah took one look at Ryoma's use of the Dragon Vein and rolled her eyes.

'Y'know what? After meeting Corrin, I don't think anything in this world will surprise me anymore.' She thought with an unamused, bored look. Ryoma couldn't help but raise an incredulous brow at Rinkah's passiveness. Last time he checked, it wasn't everyday that someone could see a royal use the power of the Dragon Veins.

'So what's with that unimpressed face?' Ryoma thought helplessly, sweatdropping.

Unbeknownst to them all, Takumi fumed with jealousy at how easily Ryoma listens to Corrin's orders without hesitation; whereas if it was him, his orders would probably be doubted, or at worst, ignored. This just makes him even more angier at how much of an inferior shadow he will forever be compared to his older siblings.

Lost in his inner fury and envy, Takumi's body moved on its own beside Corrin and Kaze, his gestures becoming almost automatic: arm up, manifest an arrow, pull back, aim, shoot, find Dragon Vein, activate, and repeat. Arm up, manifest an arrow, pull back, aim, shoot, find Dragon Vein, activate, repeat. Arm up, manifest an arrow, pull back, aim, shoot, find Dragon Vein, activate—

"Wait no! Takumi! Do not activate that Dragon Vein!"

The Archer felt something snap inside and so he gritted his teeth defiantly at Corrin's order, finally exploding and releasing all his pent-up rage by shouting back at him, "SHUT UP! YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!"

The Dragon Vein was activated…

...and down came four badass Faceless, looking ready to maul the now frightened young prince.

Takumi widened his eyes as he just realized what he's done. Being an Archer, he specializes in ranged attacks, which would put him at a huge disadvantage if he was in close proximity to the enemy, and if the enemy was smart enough to surround him—like what they're doing right now—then he's totally done for. He stumbled back, a fresh wave of adrenaline pumping through him, but there was nowhere to run. They were on all sides of him, and too close for him to attack. Completely powerless, all Takumi could think of doing was holding up his arms to shield his head, bracing for the heavy fists which would no doubt hurt.

"TAKUMI! I'M COMING FOR YOU LITTLE BRO!"

Peeking out from under his arms, Takumi saw Corrin ruthlessly manhandle one of the Faceless like a ragdoll, screaming out a war cry as he grabbed one of the Faceless's chains and pulled with all his might, throwing the 800-something pound beast into a snowy tree. He roared at the rest, somehow managing to make the three remaining Faceless take a step back out of fear—but Takumi doesn't blame the monsters for being afraid. He himself couldn't help flinching at the Manakete's roar; which sounded a tad too inhumane for his liking—before Corrin unleashed his protective wrath upon the monstrous creatures.

Corrin danced around Takumi: blocking, parrying, striking, and killing the three Faceless with one stroke of his sword at a time. For Takumi, it was like being in the middle of a swirling tempest; loud, violent lashes on the outside, but calm and eerily serene in the middle. He was glued to the spot out of shock and amazement, standing there dazedly and staring dumbly as Corrin frenziedly slashed the Faceless to pieces. At one point, he momentarily caught sight of Corrin's eyes, and what he saw scared him.

Those scarlet orbs held such an intense emotion that at first the silverette didn't know what it was. Despite his unfamiliarity with the emotion, he soon recognized it: the way that Corrin's blood-red eyes softened when he glanced at him, the warmth within reassuring him that he would be safe, and the way that he looked at him as if he was the only thing in the world that mattered...

It was the same way that his mother Mikoto looked at him when she comforted him in the dead of night, soothing his painful nightmares away with hushed murmurs and tender touches…

It was love. Takumi knew in this moment that Corrin, whether a spy or not, truly cares and loves him like a brother. From that one look alone, Takumi knew that Corrin doesn't think he is a useless shadow. Corrin doesn't think that he is a failure, or that he is weak or pathetic. Corrin thinks that he is perfect just the way he is simply because he _loves_ him.

And because of that, it scared him.

"Takumi! Move!"

The silver-haired prince snapped out of his trance at the urgent shout. His vision refocused and he saw the panicked expression on Corrin's face, instantly putting him on edge.

"Behind you! Get out of here!"

For once, Takumi listened. Deciding to finally put his trust in the other prince, he dodge-rolled out of the way just as the fist from the previously tossed Faceless slammed into the ground where he once stood.

The Faceless boss growled as it prepared to hit Takumi again, but was intercepted by Kaze.

"I'm sorry. I've let it slip away from me as I was battling it." The Ninja apologized briefly, crouched and ready to throw his iron shuriken at any moment.

"Kaze! Work with Takumi to take care of the Faceless boss! Listen to any plan he comes up with! I'll handle the others!"

"Yes, Lord Corrin!" The green-haired Ninja replied before looking back at the Archer prince. "What do you have in mind? I am at your command, Lord Takumi."

Feeling a thrill run up his spine as he heard those words, Takumi struggled to keep his excitement to a minimum as his mind whirled to come up with a valid strategy. After all, it wasn't everyday he got to play leader. "Okay. How good is your dodging?"

"I can try my best."

"Good enough for me." Takumi nodded as he manifested an arrow, nocking it on the Fujin Yumi's string and pulling until taut. "You've already weakened it when you were fighting it alone before, correct? It should go down if I shoot it at the right spot. Go and distract it long enough for me to find the perfect lethal shot."

"Yes sir!"

...

Sakura wanted to cry.

Today was just not her day. She and Hinoka had set out to originally deliver some supplies to the northern wintery villages, but it has just not been going well for the young girl today.

Not only did some lowly bandit set fire to a bunch of their food carts once he realized he was no match for Hinoka, one of their pegasus also had its wings heavily burnt from the fire and a leg broken beyond the Shrine Maiden's ability to heal it, which forced Hinoka to end its misery with a heavy, sorrowful heart.

And all this happened just this morning.

After that, a series of misfortunes befell on Sakura, and Sakura alone. The poor girl nearly got clawed by a bear, slipped in the icy snow for about a dozen times, walked face-first into a tree, accidentally knocked a bird's nest out of said tree, and then got attacked by a pair of angry parent birds. Mercilessly.

Of course, the young girl was glad that none of the bad luck seems to be targeting her older sister, but when she slipped again, for the umpteeth time in the past hour, she just had to get a twisted ankle right when the horde of attacking Faceless noticed their presence.

'At least the villagers were all evacuated in time…' The youngest Princess of Hoshido thought in an effort to stay optimistic. She raised her festal again and healed the new injuries on her sister Hinoka. 'But at this rate...oh dear gods, please send someone to save us soon…!'

Just as she finished her silent prayer, her bad luck struck again. From over the rocky hill stumbled in the hulking form of a Faceless, hell-bent on smashing its fists into her tiny, delicate body. Hinoka was too busy defending on the other side of the hill to notice the infiltrator, so Sakura was sadly left on her own.

And she really, _really_ wanted to cry right now.

However, the gods finally took mercy on her and in the next second, the pink-haired girl witnessed the most epic thing in her entire young life.

Running, in slow motion, was Corrin. His hair and cape flapping in the wind, arms and legs swinging up and down dramatically as he sprinted up the hill. He then gloriously leapt from the hilltop, folding his legs upwards to his butt, held his iron sword up far behind his head with two hands, face contorting into a savage Spartan's as he flew through the air towards the Faceless's nape.

"For humanity!" He howled as he quickly spun in midair, and sliced the monster's nape.

…

"Hey! Thanks for coming out here and saving us!" Hinoka called out to Corrin once all the Faceless met their demise the moment Ryoma arrived on the scene. "Who are you? I thought I knew all my brother's troops by now, but I don't remember—"

"It's me, Hinoka. Corrin."

"—right right, Corrin. I don't think—" The red-haired princess did a double take. "Huh?! C-Corrin?! Wait, you mean…"

Corrin chuckled as he spread open his arms. "I'm home, big Sister."

"Y-you're...home…" Hinoka repeated shakily, tears steadily welling up in her wide eyes. "Y-y-you're...finally home…" Her voice cracked at the end as she ran up to him and hugged him tightly, sobbing for a good minute or two.

"Shh, yes I'm back. And no Nohrian force is going to tear me away from you guys ever again." He spoke softly as he petted the mop of crimson hair, but this only made Hinoka bawl harder.

"Oh gods...! You, you remember! You actually still re-remember us and your home Hoshido and—and _me_...!" Hinoka sniffled, her voice overwhelmed with emotion. She then began sobbing even harder into Corrin's shoulder. "Oh thank gods...! I'm-I'm so happy...I had feared that those Nohrian scums would've brainwashed you to the point that you wouldn't even remember we existed, but—but you still do! You have no idea what this means to me…! Th-thank you for remembering…!"

The albino said nothing as he let the redhead hug him like how he hugged his mother. He closed his eyes and smiled peacefully as he nuzzled himself deeper into his sister's hug, gently shushing her hiccups and rubbing her curvy back comfortingly. Sakura stood silently to the side, watching the reunion with wonder and joy glimmering in her soft pink eyes, obviously happy for her elder sister.

Takumi and Kaze soon joined them, and upon seeing the weepy scene, Takumi sighed in exasperation. "There has been way too much crying today…"

"Oh hush you." Ryoma chided him quietly, a smile on his face as he watched Corrin awkwardly try to bring Sakura into the hug. Kaze and Rinkah stood around them, smiling at the tearful reunion. "Let her have this moment, Brother. You know as well as I do how much she's missed him."

"Hmph…" Takumi tilted his head curiously as he watched Corrin give up on trying to hug Sakura and opting to just pat her on the head affectionately. The little girl doesn't seem to mind though. "So...he's really our brother?"

"Yes." The older male replied, taking his eyes off the happy reunion to look at Takumi questioningly. "Is there something you'd like to say?"

"What do you mean?" The silverette asked defensively, shifting his amber eyes to the side submissively.

"Takumi, I know you don't take well to strangers, but you've been exceptionally cold towards Corrin even up to now. Is there something bothering you?" Ryoma stepped closer and placed a gloved hand on one of Takumi's tense shoulders. "Is something wrong?"

Takumi bit his lip, the crease between his eyebrows scrunching up in vexation. "W-well...yes!" He gathered his courage and glared up at his older brother, frostily nudging the hand off him. "Yes, there is! You guys don't bother to pay attention to me or tell me anything anymore these days! I mean, at breakfast, you could've taken the time and mention to me that our long-lost, _kidnapped_ brother was going to return today, but did you or mother say anything? NO!" Takumi growled, startling the Swordmaster even more by his expressive outburst. "I bet that if I wasn't dragged along by _him_ ," he point at Corrin, who was starting to look a bit blue in the face from Hinoka's crushing hug, "I wouldn't even have known about this rescue mission. Am I right?!"

Just from looking at Ryoma's slightly sheepish face, Takumi already knew his answer. He lowered his head and closed his eyes miserably. "See? I knew it…" He glanced up at the speechless high prince, eyes wet with self-pitying tears. "Brother...am I really even part of this fam—"

"Stop, Takumi." The Swordmaster shushed the younger prince softly, gently placing a warm hand on the other's head. The Archer looked down, gnawing at his lips, once again becoming the dysfunctional, silent teen use to bottling up his emotions. "I'm sorry that I haven't been the best big brother these past days—and in these past years as well. I...I realize that now, and for what it's worth, I want to apologize to you." He ruffled the other's silky silver locks fondly. "The reason why I don't pay much attention to you anymore is because I know you are strong and independent enough to take care of yourself. However, that is still not an excuse for me to fail you as your older brother." The red-clad warrior sighed before slowly removing his hand from Takumi's head and spoke sincerely. "I'm sorry."

Takumi said nothing. He turned around and slowly trudged away, back towards where their carriage was waiting. Ryoma sighed deeply again before deciding to leave him be. He then quickly strolled over to help Sakura, Kaze, and Rinkah remove the death grip Hinoka had on a suffocating Corrin.

After they managed to pry Hinoka away, the red-haired princess blushed and began apologizing profusely for her overemotional behaviour, but Corrin responded with a simple 'no harm done' and casually waved her off.

They set off towards Castle Shirasagi: Corrin on horseback, Hinoka and Sakura on pegasus, and everyone else in the carriage. Hinoka flew her pegasus close to the ground in order to excitedly chat and catch up with Corrin during the whole trip back. Sakura clung onto the older princess, smiling happily as she quietly listened to their conversation, too shy herself to speak up.

Corrin was half prepared to blast through another dozen or so guards when they got back into town, but with the help of Hinoka and Sakura's presence flying beside him, things went much smoother than he'd thought. He and the horse were both thankful that they didn't get shot at by arrows again.

...

"I talked with Ryoma." Takumi stated bluntly, as if that one phrase answers everything.

"Huh?" Corrin raised a brow at the immense change of attitude he sensed within his younger brother. He hung up the saddle and put the tired steed away before pivoting around fully to look at the other prince quizzically. "What?"

Takumi glanced away, a slight redness to his face as he held up a hand for the dragon prince to shake. "Here's my trust...just...just don't break it. Okay?"

Corrin blinked once, twice, before grasping the offered hand and chuckling. "Wow. I don't know what I did this time around to make you accept me so soon, but this certainly helps with winning the war."

"It does?" Takumi looked at him curiously. "How?"

"Well, shortly after I join Hoshido, a spell will be casted on you when you accidentally fall into the Bottomless Canyon while engaged in combat with Nohrian forces. It feeds off of your negative emotions, ultimately turns you into an oblivious and unwilling spy for the Nohrian army, and if left ignored, it would later on turn you into a purple smoking puppet."

" _What_." The silver-haired Archer said as flatly as he possibly can, eyes wider than Hoshidan pearls. "You mean...I'm… _what_."

Corrin cocked his head to the side, smiling teasingly. "Is 'what' all you can say these days, bro?"

Takumi furrowed his eyebrows unsurely, crossing his arms and frowning. "You still didn't tell me what that means, y'know."

"Bro just means 'brother', but shortened for convenience." Corrin replied easily. "It's literally the first three letters of 'brother'."

"Oh...so you've been calling me 'brother' this whole time." Takumi murmured thoughtfully before scoffing and rolling his eyes. "Well, okay, whatever. I'm going to go train some more."

Corrin shot him an incredulous look. "Really? This late? But we've just gotten back from rescuing Hinoka and Sakura! Man, you are so diligent, as always."

"Yeah, well," the younger prince shrugged to himself as he scratched his neck bashfully, "you can never go wrong with more practice. I need to keep honing my skills until I'm the very best." He swiveled around, about to walk away, but then turned right back around and started fidgeting nervously. "But hey…"

Corrin raised his eyebrows at the other's sudden shyness. "Yes?"

"Umm…"

"Hm?"

"Uh...w-well…" Sucking in a deep breath, the silver-haired prince forced his eyes to meet the albino's, his lips stretched out into a thin line while a visible blush covered his cheeks. "Th-thanks for caring!" And with that he sprints off faster than the wind.

Corrin was left standing there dumbfounded at the other's abrupt departure, but then he shook his head and smiled to himself.

'I am so lucky to have such an adorable tsundere little brother.'

…

"Corrin!"

The white-haired prince perked up when he heard someone call his name from down the open corridor. He smiled once he saw who it was. "Hey, mom! I'm back!"

"I can see that." Mikoto gave him a warm-hearted smile. "It seems that the rescue was a success, yes? I'm glad all of you have returned home safe."

"Yep! Don't worry about me, mom. I'm actually super strong!" As if to emphasize his point, Corrin flexed his arms. "See? Muscles!"

This caused Mikoto to laugh at his amusing antics. "Yes, dear. I believe you. Sakura and Kaze told me the whole thing. How you handled the Faceless with such ease despite it being the first time you battled them is very impressive." She sighed endearingly, eyes twinkling with joy. "I'm so glad that after all this time, you've grown up to be such a strong, handsome young man."

"Aww mom, stop, you'll make me blush." Corrin muttered as he scratched his cheek embarrassedly. "Besides, I'd be lying to you if I said that was my first encounter with the Faceless…"

Mikoto's smile disappeared as a worried frown settled on her face. "Oh no. Did you get attacked by them too while in Nohr?"

"No no...it's not that…" Corrin rubbed the back of his head, uncertain whether to tell his mother the truth or not. What he's afraid of is that his beloved mother, the one person who he absolutely cannot afford to lose, wouldn't believe him if he told her. Sighing, he mentally berated himself that if he loves his dear mother, he shouldn't keep any secrets from her. "I'm...actually from the future."

Mikoto tilted her head at this, her expression wondrous. "The future…?"

"Yes." He nodded apprehensively. "I knew of today's attack, and practically everything else that will happen next. The reason you called on me is because you were going to show me my old room. Correct?"

Mikoto nodded wordlessly.

"This'll sound crazy, but hear me out. I'm actually 41 years old from the time where I came from. The Hoshido-Nohr war had been inevitable, but Hoshido came out on top—and before you ask, don't worry, I made sure all of my Hoshidan siblings came out of it alive and unhurt." He smiled a little at the relieved expression his mother made, but then he frowned as he thought back to his Nohrian siblings. "My siblings from Nohr...well, let's just say I couldn't save them all."

"Oh dear." Mikoto murmured, slowly approaching Corrin to take one of his hands into hers. "That must've hurt you deeply."

"Yeah, it did...it really did." Corrin squeezed the hand back, his pale bangs shadowing his eyes. "It's been about 20 years, so the guilt doesn't bother me as much as before." He looked up at her earnestly, reaching out to take both of her hands into his own as he smiled sadly. "I'm really glad I got to see you again, mom. Really."

Mikoto gasped, instantly knowing what that means. It meant that this time, her sweet child had lost _her_. Permanently.

She immediately wrapped him in her arms again, and in turn he buried his face into her neck as he hugged back. "Oh Corrin...my poor boy…"

"So…" He mumbled after a moment of comfortable silence, enjoying his mother's foreign yet familiarly comforting scent. "You...believe me?"

"Of course I do. I'm your mother after all." She responded warmly, pulling back and smiling at him lovingly. "I'll stand by you no matter what."

"Awww…" Corrin sniffed, suddenly feeling very emotional at what his mother said. "Thanks mom."

Mikoto giggled, gently wiping a stray tear from Corrin's cheek. "Well now, I didn't know a 41-year-old could cry so easily."

" _Moooom_." Corrin groaned with a small smile, sniffing as he covered his eyes with his arm. "It's not fair for you to tease me like that. You _know_ how much I've missed you."

The Hoshidan Queen giggled sweetly again, patting her son's head. "Yes dear, I know. I couldn't help it. Hee hee." She folded her hands in front of her regally, regaining her noble air of elegance once more. "Now then, since you know what I plan on asking, do you still want to go see your old room?"

"Nah, I think I'll pass on that offer, mom." Corrin rolled his eyes playfully at the smiling queen, enjoying this sense of domestic normalcy that he dreamed of so long to have with his mother. "After all, I've already seen it, like, a billion times by now since I moved in after the war. I think I'd like to go visit somewhere first though before dinner. Is that okay?"

"Of course dear. Don't be out too late now." Mikoto smiled and waved back as Corrin ran off, leaving her there alone in the middle of the corridor under the light of the setting sun. "Hmm, 41…" She then gasped as she realized something before shaking her head with an amused chuckle. "Goodness me, he's almost as old as I am! Things will certainly be interesting from now on."

…

Corrin sighed contently, the orange sunlight highlighting the sharp edges of his face as he leisurely strolled through the grass, startling a couple of crickets and grasshoppers along the way. 'I'm glad that at least mom believes me. It makes me feel kinda happy to have her back in my life again.'

He breathed in the fresh, dewy evening air, glad that he could take a short break from the day's events. 'Finally, the air doesn't smell like dry dirt and dead plants. Nohr really isn't the ideal vacation spot to be in.' He thought back to his time spent with the Nohrian royal siblings, who were all probably searching for his whereabouts by now, worried to no end. 'I wonder what they're doing right now. Most likely preparing for war I guess...'

" _You are the ocean's grey waves…_ "

Corrin suddenly jolted, a tingle of anticipation, nostalgia, and euphoria flowed through him all at once.

'That voice! I know that voice!'

A giddy smile erupted on his face with barely contained glee. He sped off towards the all too familiar lakeside where he knew _she_ would be singing at.

" _Destined to seek life beyond the shore, just out of reach…_ "

Corrin's heart was pounding out of both exertion and excitement. The rapid beating in his ear perfectly juxtaposed itself to the serene, slow song that the mystery singer sang. He couldn't stop his legs from running, nor could he stop his mouth from grinning.

" _Yet the waters ever change…_ "

Corrin finally stopped when he reached the lake's pier, panting and out of breath as he stared on in awe. There she was: the woman who was the very first friend he made in Hoshido, the woman who risked her life to calm his draconic rage, the woman who supported him through thick and thin no matter what, the woman who sang until it literally killed her, the woman who disappeared in a flurry of bubbles while asking him to smile for her one last time, and the woman...who he will save this time around no matter what.

" _Flowing like time, the path is yours to climb…_ "

Her light blue hair floated around her slender frame calmly while the lake's water magically smoothed themselves out—as if charmed by her beautiful singing—as she finished the chorus of her favourite signature song.

'It's probably because of that darn water pendant.' Corrin thought irkly, remembering how the stupid thing had taken his beloved's life. 'I can't wait to see her throw that piece of junk away when the war is over…'

Suddenly, the bluette turned around, as if sensing his unexpected presence behind her. She looked disturbed and uncertain for a brief moment before her expression went back to its usual emotionless mask. She was about to walk towards him when Corrin decided to come to her first.

'She's as beautiful as the day I lost her…' Corrin thought in a breathless trance, taking the time to fully admire his crush's appearance. 'Gods...it's been so long since I last saw her…'

They stared at each other quietly with nothing but the sounds of the softly sloshing water below, and the distant chirping of awakening nocturnal insects filling the silence between them. Saying nothing, Azura eyed the expressionless, but mesmerized albino stranger up and down, taking in his physique and the details of his unusual armor. He looked...familiar. Somehow. As if she'd known him her whole life. Perhaps this was the 'Prince Corrin' the servants had been chatting about throughout the entire day as they rushed through the castle dusting, cleaning, and preparing his old room. Whoever he was, she felt surprisingly comfortable in front of him.

When she finally decided to open her mouth and ask him who he is, Corrin interrupted her by suddenly stepping forward, a sunny smile beaming across his previously blank face.

" _In the white light…!_ " He sang confidently, a hand placed passionately over his heart. " _A hand reaches through…_ " As he sang this, he dramatically flung out his arm towards Azura, as if asking her for a dance.

Azura was shocked—no, beyond shocked. This stranger knew of the song her mother taught only to her! Or at least, part of it. She blinked as she noticed that the albino was smiling at her with his hand still outstretched, waiting for her to take it. The Songstress gulped, understandably hesitant. Her mind spun as it tried hard to think up reasons for why this total stranger knew of the ancient song. However, it surprised her more when her eyes wandered up to meet the other's crimson ones and saw nothing but love, adoration, and kindness within; which eventually prompted her to accept the other's inviting hand. For once trusting her heart more than her judgement, she took the offered appendage and continued the song.

" _A double-edged blade cuts your heart in two…_ " They joined hands, although tentatively at first. Corrin tenderly pulled them close, smiling the most charming, dashing, and innocent smile he could muster, causing Azura's heart to unconsciously beat faster.

" _Waking dreams...fade away…_ " She felt a hand on her waist as he twirled around with her, laughing so delightedly that Azura couldn't help but find his smile contagious.

" _Embrace the brand new day…_ " The sang in unison as they ceased their spinning. He held her intimately close, their foreheads almost touching. Azura found herself liking the closeness between them as she sang the next verse.

" _Sing with me a song…_ " She skipped and hopped gracefully in her own little dance around Corrin before getting caught in his strong, gentle arms once more.

" _Of birthrights and love,_ " Corrin continued, his feet agily matching Azura's dainty ones as they shuffled alongside each other. They kept one of their hands interlocked together throughout the whole thing.

" _The light scatters to the sky above…_ " They laughed and danced above the lake's swirling waters which were magically brought to life once more; their feet touching every board of the pier warmed by the evening sunlight; their shadows friskily mimicking their actions a few meters away.

" _Dawn breaks through the gloom…_ " Azura yelped and giggled when Corrin lifted her by her waist playfully, twirling her around before setting her down.

" _White as a bone…_ " He sang, feeling that his face was beginning to ache from the huge smile he sported, but he couldn't care less right now. He was having the time of his life.

" _Lost in thoughts, all alone…_ " Azura finished as they embraced each other one last time, her melodic voice almost mournful that their fun had to end. She reluctantly unlaced their fingers, feeling a bit out of breath from their recent fun.

"So? How was that?" Corrin panted, his radiant grin still stuck on his face. "I think I did a nice job, don't you think?"

"You mean your singing?" She giggled, raising an elegant hand to hide her smiling mouth.

"Yeah. I sounded pretty great, right?" Corrin grinned down at her cheekily, eyes becoming half-lidded as he wiggled his eyebrows up and down in a comical attempt at looking sexy.

This just made her go into another fit of amused giggles. "Well, you were quite off-pitch during the whole thing, but at least your passion was there."

Corrin shut his eyes and sweatdropped at his fail, but kept his cocky smirk on as best as he could. "W-well, anyone's voice would seem dull and 'off-pitch' when compared next to yours, milady."

Azura giggled back softly, tilting her head away and acting coy. "Oh my, what a charming gentleman you are."

Corrin laughed at the compliment before stepping back and bowing formally. "Well, this charming gentleman would like to invite you to dine with him." He glanced up with a lovely smile, still bowing as he offered his hand for her to take again. "The chefs are almost done with preparing dinner back at the castle. Would you care to join me?"

Deciding to humor him, Azure curtsied before placing her hand in his once more. "Of course. It would be my pleasure. However," she added, catching Corrin's attention. "Does this charming gentleman have a name? I would love to hear it."

Corrin blinked in surprise, momentarily flustered that he's forgotten this is Azura's first time meeting him. "O-oh yes, why of course. My name is Corrin."

Azura smiled gracefully at him. "Ah, so you are indeed the Prince Corrin I've heard about who has returned to Hoshido. My name is Azura, I am a Princess of Nohr. It is nice to meet you."

"Oh? Don't you mean _former_  Princess of Nohr?" Corrin added with a knowing look as he mentally prepared himself to once again reveal his future status to yet another beloved woman dearest to his heart. "Not to mention, the Princess of the Invisible Kingdom as well?"

Azura's smile instantly dropped from her face as she widened her eyes and gaped in both shock and horror. "How...how did you know about that?"

"Oh, I know a lot of things…" Corrin spoke mysteriously, straightening back up. Squeezing the suddenly tense hand reassuringly, he smiled kindly at the bluette. "Don't worry though, I'm not the enemy."

"The enemy…" The Songstress echoed, her expression turning stern. She pulled her hand away from Corrin's warily, cradling it to her chest as if it's been hurt. "How much do you know...about the enemy…?"

Corrin shrugged weakly, frowning with disappointment at the lost of the wonderful hand-to-hand contact. "Which one? Are you asking about Hoshido's enemy, Nohr, or are you asking about the invisible dead ones reanimated by the evil dragon just beyond the Bottomless Canyon?"

It was official, Azura had never felt so shocked in her entire life. First, a strange yet entrancing man had seemingly appeared out of nowhere before her, asking her for a dance. What's stranger is that she had actually accepted. Second, that same strange man knew of the song her mother had taught her—and it was supposed to be a secret song that no one in the entire world but her should know. Third, that man had surprisingly given her the most fun anyone's ever given her, and she had smiled and laughed so much throughout the whole dance that her face and abdominal muscles still tingled from the sudden overuse. And now, she's found out that this strange man also knew of the same invisible evil beyond the lake's surface—something that not any _normal_ people should know—and acts like it was as casual a thing to mention like the weather. Her own mother had died from telling her the forbidden knowledge, but this man standing before her doesn't seem to care at all that there was a mastermind trying to puppeteer Hoshido and Nohr's demise. At this point, she wasn't sure whether to be irked, impressed, or scared.

Her vision darkened at the edges. She needed to take a vital second to remind herself to breath. It is impossible to stay calm now that she could a) be in danger. b) have found a potential ally who she could finally share her pain with. Or c) have somehow lost her mind in the last few minutes.

And from the dizzying weightlessness in her head, the throbbing of her heart, and the sudden quadrupling of Corrin's figure, she's gonna go with option C.

"You...you know…" Her voice shook unevenly as she tried to remember how to form coherent sentences. Her wide eyes made her look like a mortified deer caught in torchlight. "H-how in the world do you possibly know…?"

Corrin sighed quietly to himself before gazing seriously into Azura's startled golden eyes. He steeled his heart and prepared to tell her the truth, hoping beyond hope that she won't outright dismiss him as a liar. "Azura, what I'm about to tell you may seem unlikely, but it's the only answer I can give you."

"…" The bluette said nothing. She just stood there, unmoving.

"Azura, I'm from the future."

"..."

"Oh, and also, I kinda know stuff now. Forbidden stuff. Like, stuff people from our world shouldn't know. That's how I know about the other world beyond the Bottomless Canyon."

"..."

"Azura…?" Corrin cocked his head curiously at the maiden's unresponsiveness.

Slowly, the blue-haired Songstress's body shifted to the side and splashed into the lake, motionlessly floating up to the surface.

Azura had fainted.

"AZURA?!" Corrin gaped at her unexpected reaction to his news before panickingly jumping into the water to rescue her from drowning. He scooped her up from the waist-deep water into his arms, jostling the limp body in order to try and wake its owner in vain. "H-hey! Get ahold of yourself, Azura! Wake up! Geez, do you have any idea how insulting this is for you to faint after I poured my heart out to you and told you the truth?!"

There was no response from the unconscious princess because, well, she's unconscious.

"Azuraaaaaaa!" The white-haired Manakete whined loudly to the heavens.

...

"...and that's about it." Yukimura finished, taking one last gulp from his clay teacup. "Azura had actually just recently regained consciousness, although the poor girl was still quite shaken and pale when she awoke."

"I see. Reuniting with his long-lost family, fighting the Faceless, making a young maiden faint...my my, Lord Corrin's had quite the adventure today, hadn't he?" Gunter mused good-naturedly, also taking one last sip of the healing tea. "It still somewhat baffles me how fast he has accepted the news of his newfound family, but then again, it looks like Lord Corrin wasn't joking when he had said he was from the future."

"Indeed." Yukimura nodded in agreement before furrowing his eyebrows and sighing heavily as he uncharacteristically slumped in his seat. "Hoh boy, those one hundred and three reports filed in today because of Lord Corrin's little adventure through town are brutal beasts. The sun's set and yet I haven't even gotten to a quarter of them!" The puppet master complained weakly, rubbing a tired hand across his face.

Gunter found himself smiling in amusement at the other's misfortune before he could stop himself. Yukimura noticed the cheeky mirth from the old knight's expression and shot him a friendly glare. "Oh so you think that's funny, do you? Sure sure, laugh it up, Nohrian. You're just lucky that I'm in such a good mood I'll consider overlooking your slight." The two aged men both shared a few lighthearted chuckles before Yukimura straightened from his slouch, his hand up by his face adjusting his glasses as expected. "However, I will say this: anyone who is unfamiliar with Hoshidan streets cannot possibly display such finesse in maneuvering a charging horse onto a rooftop."

At this, Gunter sighed. "Yes, you told me about that. My poor, poor horse…" The Great Knight refrained himself from facepalming at the thought of how traumatized his poor stallion must be. Sure the equine had faced far worse horrors on the battlefield, but the last time he checked, horses aren't supposed to be okay with running on rooftops and leaping over 10 meter walls while dodging sharp projectiles left and right. "So...you really think Prince Corrin is from the future?"

"Of course." The Hoshidan replied without missing a beat. "How else would he be able to know so much about us, the castle's interior, the properties of the Hoshidan Throne, and be able to gain so many of our trust all in one day?" Yukimura answered as he collected Gunter's empty teacup and placed it beside his own on the tray. "Especially Prince Takumi's. His trust isn't easy to gain at all. Trust me on that one."

Gunter shook his head and sighed again in defeat as he just realized something. "Good gods, now that would explain the outrageous phenomenons, his unfathomable achievements, his newfound cocky behaviour—absolutely _everything_ from when he first woke up back at the Northern Fortress up to until now. Well, I suppose I should be relieved that my lord hadn't gone insane..."

This time, Yukimura was the one laughing at his misfortune. He quickly calmed himself as a soft look of solace entered his unguarded eyes. "I have to say, it's reassuring to know that he chose to stay with us in the end. I was worried he might have wanted to rejoin Nohr." Blinking quickly, he glanced up at Gunter looking slightly flustered as he tried to rephrase his sentence. "Well, I mean, not that Nohr is bad, but…"

Gunter snorted and waved off the other's attempt at polite diplomacy. "Go on, you can say it. Both you and I know Nohr isn't exactly the loveliest place to live in."

Yukimura smiled faintly. "I am glad that you are so kind. You were out cold even as the Priestesses did everything they could to revive you from death's door, and I admit, I was originally dreading having to face you when I was told to come check up on you, but your pink-haired companion reassured me endlessly that you were an honorable and fair man."

"My pink-haired companion?" Gunter echoed questioningly before the sliding door to the room opened and said 'pink-haired companion' wobbled in holding a wooden bowl of crushed herbs unsteadily.

"E-easy now Felicia...it's just a bowl...n-not a tray, or e-even Jakob's favorite tea set...gulp…" The clumsy Maid nervously cheered herself on as she carefully stepped into the room, but the two men could clearly see her hands trembling and threatening to spill the bowl's contents. She stood there until her hands stopped quaking, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath to soothe her jittery nerves. When she reopened them, Felicia's expression immediately lit up like a candle when she caught sight of Gunter. "Mr. Gunter! You're awake! I'm so gla—AAAAH!"

Somehow, while standing completely still, the bowl previously clutched in both Felicia's hands went flying forwards and splashed it's dusty medicine straight onto Yukimura's face. The Mechanist simultaneously coughed and sneezed violently as he hastily took off his dust-covered lens, leaving a rather hilarious imprint on his face. It reminded Gunter of a racoon.

The Great Knight had to press a hand against his mouth to prevent outright laughing at the other man's state lest he makes the already annoyed looking Hoshidan even more irritated.

"AHHH! I'm so sorry Mr. Yukimura! I'm sorry!" Felicia wailed, flailing her arms around for a moment before reaching into a pocket to fetch out a white handkerchief for the man to clean himself with. "H-here, use this…"

The puppeteer groaned as he begrudgingly accepted the offered cloth. "Felicia, this is the _fourth time_ something like this has happened! Aren't Nohrian Maids supposed to be _good_ at serving things?"

The Maid bowed her head sadly and apologized pathetically. "I-I'm sorry…"

Gunter, use to Felicia's constant mishaps, chuckled at the comical scene. "Hello there Felicia, I see you're still at it with your hazardous clumsiness as always."

Felicia pouted and crossed her arms at him. "It's mean to tease me like that, Mr. Gunter!" Her stern posture was quickly dropped as she sighed dejectedly. "But yes, I guess I am…"

"Now now, I didn't mean it as a bad thing." Gunter corrected, hoping to comfort her.

"Speak for yourself…" Yukimura grumbled, wiping his mouth area. "You didn't have hot tea spilled on you three times in a row…"

Felicia winced at the mention of her previous disasters.

"Well, I'm very sorry for your unfortunate incidents, Yukimura. However, I promise you Felicia truly means no harm." Gunter defended, noticing from the corner of his eyes that the pinkette had perked up at this and was nodding alongside convincingly with his statement.

"Yes I know, I figured as much. That still doesn't make it any less troublesome for me however." The Mechanist returned Felicia's dirtied handkerchief and stood. "Now if you'll both excuse me, I need to go clean myself up a bit more. I don't need a mirror to bet you a shiny coin that there's green powder hidden in my hair and covering my clothes. If you are feeling well enough to join Lord Corrin and the rest of the Hoshidan royals for dinner, your companion here can lead you to the royal dining hall. She knows the way." With that, the Hoshidan strategist bowed a little and promptly left.

Felicia looked at Gunter uncertainly. "Do you think he hates me? I think I'd hate me, especially after my first few unlucky impressions of me. His face had to get healed three times..."

"I think you're fine. He just needs a moment to himself in order to adjust to our presence." Gunter stumbled achingly onto his feet, groaning softly as he stretched out his back. "Anywho, I think I'm feeling adequately better. Why don't we go join Lord Corrin for dinner?"

"Okay!" Felicia beamed enthusiastically, seemingly forgotten her earlier sorrows. "Then follow me please! It's this way!"

The travel through the darkened, quiet halls was fairly pleasant. Felicia walked in front humming a happy tune while the old knight limped slightly along after her. They soon heard a rowdy buzzing of noise as they neared a room with light pouring out of the paper screen door.

Felicia and Gunter glanced at each other, both looking bemused. Dinners in Nohr were never so loud and lively sounding as this.

Felicia hesitantly opened the door, and what greeted them behind the paper screen bewildered them even more.

Their Lord Corrin had a peculiarly mixed expression of a cross between a kissy-face and absolute horror as he chased Takumi around the table while at the same time being chased by Hinoka and Azura; the former running away shouting something along the lines of 'GET AWAY FROM ME I DON'T NEED YOUR DISGUSTING STUPID NOHRIAN AFFECTIONS' while the latter two were more concerned at the fact that there was a giant black spider on Corrin's back—and to which upon being informed of said arachnid, the albino had instantly turned into a screaming lunatic. Sakura was hiding under the table, quivering in fear of the scary spider. Azura had found a broom from somewhere and had begun whacking and poking harshly at the elusive black creature on Corrin's back, eliciting several 'Ow's and 'Ouch's from the dragon prince; while Hinoka had resorted to throwing chopsticks, which hurt just as bad. The Hoshidan Queen was clutching her stomach and laughing up a storm at the current situation in which she finds hysterical, tiny tears pricked her eyes as her laughter rang out amongst the mayhem; while the Hoshidan high prince was banging his head on the table, groaning like a dying animal at the utter chaos around him, probably wondering why his life had become so difficult.

As the Nohrians stood there, baffled at the maelstrom happening inside the room, Takumi suddenly tripped, causing Corrin to trip onto him, causing the spider to decide that it's finally had enough of this as it hopped off Corrin's back and scurried off to somewhere—which was fortunate for the creature because at that exact moment Azura and Hinoka had also tripped and crashed onto Corrin, causing Takumi to groan in pain at the extra crushing weight.

As if that wasn't enough, the spider decided to scurry under the table where Sakura was, causing the young girl to shriek and frantically crawl out of her hiding place, bumping her head against the low table more than a couple of times along the way.

Hissing in pain, Corrin happened to look up at the open doorway and saw his two retainers, one gobsmacked and the other completely dumbfounded yet still managing to maintain an impressive poker face. He grinned nonchalantly at them, making it seem like as if the earlier witnessed fiasco was just a totally normal dinner routine. "Oh heya Gunter! I see that you're looking better, good for you! Come, come. Join us for dinner, we were just getting started."

Gunter stared at the innocently smiling face sandwiched in the middle of the moaning dogpile of royals with a deadpan expression. 'How unfortunate, my young master has truly gone insane after all.' He sighed for the umpteeth time since he awoke and pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering. "How lovely."


End file.
